Policies: Spiritual

WITHERNSEA JUNIOR SCHOOL

SPIRITUAL, MORAL, SOCIAL & CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

We believe that this area of learning underpins everything which we believe in at Withernsea Junior School.  It draws together every aspect of school life:-

*      the hidden curriculum

*      the school environment

*      the school aims

*      the values which we promote.

We believe that all of these are expressed through a group of people working together to an agreed approach for the good of the children at the school.  Expression is by example and those people working together include:-

*      all the staff of the school both teaching and non-teaching

*      the governors of the school

*      the parents of our children

*      the community of Withernsea.

VALUES

We agreed these cannot be left to chance.  They are expressed through our hidden curriculum for which we are responsible.

*      we have a planned whole school approach to all aspects of school life

*      our children are helped and encouraged to grow in the knowledge that their place in the school community is respected and that each individual's contribution is valued, as is made clear in our school philosophy statement

*      the channels of communication are open and fully understood by everyone.

We believe that if we can succeed in these strategies then each and everyone of our children will feel valued.

SCHOOL ETHOS

Everyone connected with the school acknowledges the importance of:-

*      the expectations we all have for the children at Withernsea Junior School

*      how we care about and for all our children

*      the equality of each child

*      the pride in our school and its work

*      the loyal and commitment we all show to our school

*      how we as adults display our commitment to the school.

We at Withernsea Junior School commit ourselves to the children's personal and academic development.

In order to do this we take account of:-

SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT

The attitudes, personal beliefs and values which our children display are influenced by:-

*      any one or all of the curriculum areas e.g. in Science looking at environmental issues; in Health Education programme looking at drugs

*      the Collective Worship life of the school

*      the school's Religious Education curriculum as it seeks to teach children the foundation principles of the Christian faith and to understand and be tolerant of other world religions

*      teachers trying to share with the children the extent to which the spiritual experience can come about by an appreciation of beauty, both in the natural and man made world.

MORAL DEVELOPMENT

How we behave and act, the understanding and the decision-making over right and wrong and responsibility for those decisions are part of helping children to decide where they stand in life.  What is going to be their moral code?  The School Care Code puts a structure on the way we seek to treat each other and care for our surroundings in which we all work.  Children through the medium of the School Council will be involved in the drawing up of the code and its annual review.  Children will be regularly asked to evaluate their behaviour in the school and to share their evaluations with the class teacher, their parents and the Headteacher.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

We are setting out to equip our children so that they can play as full a part as possible in the school community and subsequently in the larger community of Withernsea.  We try to achieve this by:-

*      encouraging children to take responsibility within the class for a variety of daily and weekly tasks; throughout the year most children will have an opportunity to serve the general needs of the class;

*      encouraging them to take a wider responsibility in School House activities, where each house chooses to support a particular charity during the course of the year and plans activities to raise funds for the charity; additionally House Captains and Vice Captains are elected by their peers to lead their houses in various inter - House competitions and to set an example to the other members of the house in terms of effort behaviour;

*      through the medium of the School Council the children have a real say in the organisation and development of their school.  A representative is elected from each class and along with a supervisor, governor and members of staff, these children have the experience of attending, running and minuting the meeting and taking decisions which affect the life of the school in a democratic manner;

*      the school rules were drawn up by the children in a series of Collective Acts of Worship;

*      the children have also had the experience of attending meetings about the regeneration of Withernsea and had the opportunity to put the points of view of the younger generation most effectively.

CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

We begin with the children's experiences and in partnership with parents, we have a great influence on how they view their own/their peers in the world through:-

*      the experiences we provide - appreciation of music/art within the school curriculum and the large number of extra-curricular experiences, such as the school orchestra, choir, school productions, gymnastics, various musical groups, art club and various sports clubs etc

*      broadening their horizons to become aware of other cultures and traditions both national and international.  We are part of a Comenius project and have links with a school in Lucca, in Italy, and Bruges, in Belgium

*      various visiting speakers who share the life of a different culture as part of RE teaching, and in our collective acts of worship.