Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Provision
At St Matthew’s CE Primary we ensure that the children receive a rich, diverse and balanced curriculum. Through our provision of Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural teaching, the children’s self knowledge, self esteem and self confidence is nurtured. We have an active school council here at St Matthew’s, and these children are elected yearly by their peers. Pre-election the children outline their skills and explain why they would be a good school council member. The voting process is democratic with everyone’s voice being heard and counted. These children then lead on key issues throughout the year, discussing issues with their classes and feeding back to other School Council Representatives and members of the Senior Leadership Team.
Throughout the course of each academic year children across the whole school discuss what is “right” and “wrong” in varying contexts. We encourage visits from the Community Police School Liaison Officers, as well as other prominent key figures such as Fire Officers, members of our local Church Clergy and Faith Leaders from other religions. We talk to the children about respecting the diverse multi-cultural and multi-faith society in which we live, preparing them through lessons such as PSHE, (Personal, Social, and Health Education) and Circle Time to become good citizens. Through this teaching, we aim to give our children knowledge on how to grow into young adults, respecting the civil and criminal law of our country. We aim to educate our children so that they are able to show positive behaviour in their own community and contribute positively as a young citizen. A significant element of this teaching is linked to our daily Worship and Religious Education lessons which focus on the key distinctive Christian characteristics which are unique to our school:
- Kindness
- Honesty
- Respect
- Responsibility
We are highly fortunate at St Matthew’s to be part of a very diverse and rich school community, many of our children have different faiths and beliefs. We are very proud of the respect the children have for each other and view all of our children and parents as a rich learning resource. We often have visits from parents/ carers who explain to the children their culture, experiences or faith. We have seen a change in our school community over the past few years. We have welcomed families who return from working oversees and those from other countries. All of these children have settled well into the school and are able to share their life experiences with other children.
British Values
The fundamental British values are:
- democracy
- the rule of law
- individual liberty
- mutual respect
- tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs
These are taught and modelled through the school. The children elect the Leading Lights, School Council representatives and House Captains and Prefects through a democratic process. Those of different faiths and beliefs are encouraged to share these with classes as part of the RE curriculum. St Matthew’s have school rules that are based on our values. Children understand that rules are there to keep them safe and to protect them. The school rules are linked to the outside world where laws are made to protect us. One of our school values is Respect, and this is modelled by all members of the community on a daily basis.
We continue to work closely with the governors at St Matthew’s to ensure that our curriculum, in the broadest sense, reflects and supports wholly our school community, We welcome any visits from parents/ carers who can offer support in this area- please contact the school office, thank you.