Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development

At Mill Rythe Junior School, the spiritual development of pupils is shown by their:
• ability to be reflective about their own beliefs, religious or otherwise, that inform their perspective on life and their interest in and respect for different people’s faiths, feelings and values
• sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning about themselves, others and the world around them
• use of imagination and creativity in their learning
• willingness to reflect on their experiences.

At Mill Rythe Junior School we promote children’s spiritual development by:
• Ensuring all children have daily reflection time in whole-school assemblies.
• Following the locally approved Religious Education Curriculum which covers a range of concepts for children to reflect on and engage with as well as thinking about these concepts in the context of major world religions.
• Ensuring that different religious festivals are discussed and celebrated in school. Often this is through school assemblies and the RE curriculum.
• Organising a bi-annual ‘Faith Day’ with workshops led by local religious leaders.
• Ensuring all children in years 4,5 and 6 attend an annual Christmas service in local church.
• Ensuring all children in year 3 take part in an annual Christingle service with other local schools.
• Holding weekly Christian-based assemblies led by local church – ‘Open the Book’ where children get to experience and discuss bible stories.
• Having an agreed set of school values that the children engage with through class work and school assemblies.
• Providing many opportunities for imagination and creativity in children’s learning e.g. Art day, DT Day.
• Having an annual residential trip where children take part in adventurous activities, learn about themselves and develop character.
• Science is used to consider the amazing world in which we live, such as hosting a visiting planetarium and allowing pupils to plan and lead their own scientific investigations.
• Providing a curriculum that helps the children to learn about the world around them both locally and internationally.
• The language of spirituality is taught through the explicit covering of the Learning Values so that the children can have a voice and express themselves.
• A sense of achievement is encouraged through a range of reward systems.
• Learning Behaviours are promoted throughout all aspects of the curriculum
• Love Days are used so that pupils can participate in new learning experiences and discover how they learn in different contexts.
• Through PSHE, we challenge all that would constrain the human spirit e.g lack of confidence, indifference, discrimination and greed.
• Hooks and special days are used to stimulate curiosity and reflection e.g. the Year 5 World War 1 day, Year 6 Greek day etc

The moral development of pupils is shown by their:
• ability to recognise the difference between right and wrong, readily apply this understanding in their own lives and, in so doing, respect the civil and criminal law of England
• understanding of the consequences of their behaviour and actions
• interest in investigating and offering reasoned views about moral and ethical issues, and being able to understand and appreciate the viewpoints of others on these issues.

At Mill Rythe Junior School we promote children’s moral development by:
• Having a clear code of conduct for behaviour that is understood by all. The system ensures all children develop a clear sense of right and wrong and an understanding that there are consequences for their actions.
• Exploring important moral and ethical issues through the school curriculum e.g. year 6 science unit on sustainability and the environment and RE / RHE lessons that explore moral issues.
• Having assembly themes regularly linked to key moral issues and dilemmas
• Being involved in fund raising.
• The school council giving pupils the opportunity to express their viewpoints and consider those of others.
• Fair play and sporting behaviour being encouraged through PE and extra-curricular clubs.
• Considering issues surrounding the misuse of information and the access of personal information regarding computing and social media.
• Exploring right and wrong through a range of scenarios in RHE and consider the consequences of various actions.
• Promoting Anti-bullying through theme weeks and regular assemblies.
• Having chickens, ducks and guinea pigs as a school pet, children are involved on a rota system in looking after them and understanding how to care for them.
• Giving individual support to children through our ELSA scheme, to reinforce appropriate behaviour and responsibilities for a range of situations.
• Encouraging children to be safe outside of school through themed assemblies e.g. on fireworks, sun safety and trips.
• Encouraging children to be safe outside of school through school rules such as: children must wear a helmet to cycle to school, and organised activities e.g. Bike ability.