SMSC
Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development is the over-arching umbrella that encompasses personal development across the whole curriculum.
Our mission is to enable students on their journey to put character and values at the heart of all that they do. Doing so will allow the students we serve to flourish, and transform the ethos and culture of Heartlands Academy.
The vision at Heartlands Academy is to enable students to flourish in all areas of their lives, by supporting their development into well-rounded, empathetic beings who are able to contribute and shape society and the wider world, whilst respecting and supporting those who live in it, through the teaching and modelling of good character.
SMSC development at Heartlands Academy is all-encompassing and is uniquely threaded through all areas of the curriculum and personal development opportunities that students receive.
We take SMSC development seriously as we believe it is fundamental to the development of our students.
Thematic approach
Weekly themes, linking to both the tutor time programme and PSHE are embedded through assemblies, displays and other activities around the school. Subject areas take responsibility for further developing opportunities to discuss virtues and virtue-based dilemmas.
Practical opportunities
The opportunities for students to put their “character” into practice are wide-ranging at Heartlands, which include but are not limited to:
- Extra-curricular clubs, including a debating club
- STEM
- Trips
- Student leadership, including charity ambassadors
- Sports leaders
- Volunteering
- Duke of Edinburgh Award
Despite all the opportunities that are seized to teach character, both explicitly and implicitly, we believe that the modelling of character is a crucial aspect and to this end, we work with staff and parents/carers on character and character virtues. It is important that staff model good character behaviours and engage in positive character language with students, and therefore this is an aspect of our CPD programme. Our behaviour policy is clear and has had student input to ensure maximum buy-in from all who attend Heartlands Academy.
All activities at Heartlands Academy are funded by the academy and we never charge parents or carers to ensure that all students equally benefit from what we offer by removing any financial barriers.