British Values and SMSC

 

How do British values and our SMSC Vision Statement link together?

We believe that the six core values which are the heart of our school; ambition, tenacity, community, respect, independence, and courage, will provide all pupils with the guidance necessary to be active citizens who are able to contribute to their local and wider communities. Through providing high quality teaching, developing a love of learning and access to a wide range of pastoral opportunities beyond the classroom we will enable all pupils to aspire to excellence. We have selected our core values as they are the foundation blocks of the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance.

How do we enable our children to excel in their SMSC development?

Our curriculum is built around four ‘drivers’, which are a golden thread of development on the Manor enrichment journey.

Communication

We want our children to become eloquent orators, speaking with confidence and fluency in a variety of situations. We believe that helping our children find their voice is as important as them becoming avid readers or great writers and we will work to broaden vocabulary and encourage talk in all areas of learning. One of the ways that we promote the development of communication is providing opportunity for leadership. Children can apply to be Head or Deputy of House in Year 6 whilst children through Years 3-6 can apply to be school councillors or anti-bullying ambassadors. Heads/Deputies and Prefects can also lead tours of the school.

We are also a Thrive school who practice restorative conversations when things have gone wrong. We also use Thrive to help support those children who struggle with self-regulation or social skills. We have a Thrive lunch club for those children who find the lunch hall too overwhelming and eat lunch in a small, peaceful group in the Thrive Room. Every class has an interactive Zones of Regulation display to help children communicate how they are feeling. They also have worry boxes so children can inform their teachers of any anxiety they may have. Pupil morale and wellbeing are a priority for us.

 

Opportunity

Every single one of our children has a particular skill waiting to be unfurled, but they cannot aspire to things they have never encountered. We will work to broaden our children’s horizons, expanding their knowledge of the world and of work, by nurturing their interests as well as encouraging fearlessness of what is new or unknown. We enable children to take part in local events such as the Remembrance Parade, donating to the local food bank, performing Shakespeare at a local theatre in Year 5, as well as the numerous school trips that link to the curriculum journey. We aim to expand our children’s cultural capital through a wide range of enrichment.

Through our weekly celebration assemblies children can aspire to be awarded a Values badge for demonstrating one of our values and those that have been over and above are nominated for Hot Chocolate Club, which is held at the same time with the Head Teacher. Any children nominated that week then add their fingerprint to our Values Tree at the school entrance.

 

Adventure

We want our children to lift their eyes from the screen and to be excited by the real world, engaging in rich experiences to develop their imagination.  It is vital that we nurture the natural curiosity of our children, enabling them to become independent in thought and action and encouraging them to imagine, enquire and become increasingly enterprising.  We offer a range of trips, visitors, residentials, after school clubs (such as chess (student-led), sewing, lego, technology, cross country, netball, football. orchestra and French) and we run a yearly enterprise week. We also encourage a sense of adventure through our OPAL lunchtimes, which includes a den-building area and mud kitchen.

 

Community

We want our children to have a strong sense of belonging and being a part of the Manor ‘family’.  We believe in the power of the school community to change and enhance lives and want our children to develop a sense of pride in themselves and respect for others. To do so, children need to know about, and understand, the world that is both on, and beyond, their immediate doorstep.  We will ensure that children have opportunities to work with our local community and the wider world.
Within school we regularly celebrate inspirational people, past and present, who represent diversity with race, culture, gender, LGBTQI+ and disabilities, be it through special assemblies or the diversity section of our library. We use these people to celebrate uniqueness. We try to maintain strong links with our local community, we donate to the local food bank, children represent our school in the town Remembrance Parade, children take part in their own initiatives e.g. selling lavender packs to raise money for a cancer charity. Inspiring figures from the community have regular involvement with school, through visits and events e.g. firemen and vicar.

 

How do our parents know about their child’s SMSC development?

 

• Parent surveys
• Online - Dojo and Tapestry
• Home visits for new starters
• Parent meetings twice a year - and more on request.
• Curriculum parent sessions - Phonics, SATs.
• Termly dates sent out
• SLT presence at drop off and pick up
• Open evening
• Termly coffee mornings
• Two Home School Link Workers