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Promoting social, moral, spiritual and cultural development

We’ve always taken your child’s social, moral, spiritual and cultural development seriously – and we’ve been successful, too.  Ofsted (November, 2011) judges us to be outstanding in this area, noting:

Their outstanding behaviour, together with their maturity as members of the school community, is reflected in their respect for different cultures. This leads to outstanding spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. A typical comment from pupils is that, ‘in this school we are all equal. We treat each other from different religions equally’. 

But what do the terms ‘social development’, ‘moral development’, ‘spiritual development’ and ‘cultural development’ mean?  When I seek your views on this area of our work in the annual survey of parents and carers, we typically get fewer responses for this question – I wonder if it’s because of the slightly mysterious nature of of terms!

Here’s how the Department for Education define the four aspects, and some comments (in italics) about how we’re promoting them at Moortown Primary School, especially through the homework tasks we set.

Social development

Pupils’ social development involves pupils acquiring an understanding of the responsibilities and rights of being members of families and communities (local, national and global), and an ability to relate to others and to work with others for the common good. They display a sense of belonging and an increasing willingness to participate. They develop the knowledge, skills, understanding, qualities and attitudes they need to make an active contribution to the democratic process in each of their communities.

It’s wrong to think that the best learning happens in a silent classroom!  At Moortown Primary, our classes are often buzzing with talk – talk for learning, that is.  We believe that lots of speaking and listening between pupils is vital – it’s a life skill and a great learning tool, too: it can help children develop their thoughts, check their answers for reassurance, embed their own learning… Linked closely with SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning), especially the current theme of Getting On, social development is happening all the time at Moortown Primary.  Teachers often set homework based around the SEAL theme; at the time of writing, for example, Mr Wilks and Mr Redfearn have asked the Year 3 and 4 children to do some Talk Time on different ways to get on with friends.  Next week, children in all classes are asked to consider bullying: what it is, what types of bullying there are, and how we can stop and prevent it.  Again, this stems from our SEAL themes and promotes social development.

Moral development

Pupils’ moral development involves pupils acquiring an understanding of the difference between right and wrong and of moral conflict, a concern for others and the will to do what is right. They are able and willing to reflect on the consequences of their actions and learn how to forgive themselves and others. They develop the knowledge, skills and understanding, qualities and attitudes they need in order to make responsible moral decisions and act on them.

Talk Time homework is the perfect way to have a healthy debate about a moral issue, and recently all the teachers in school set a moral question to consider at home: older children considered whether everyone should be paid the same wage (fitting in perfectly to their Big Topic, Rich and Poor); Y3 and Y4 children considered if households should have more than one car (linked to the All Aboard! Big Topic); and children in Key Stage One pondered whether animals should perform in circuses (which stems from the Roll Up! Roll Up! Big Topic).  As always with Talk Time homework, opinions which children have heard and considered at home (and hopefully some rich language, such as words like ‘Nevertheless,…’ and phrases like ‘I agree with most of what you say, but…’) are then a central part of class discussions.  Theses sorts of discussions, at both home and school, promotes social development, too! 

Spiritual development

Pupils’ spiritual development involves the growth of their sense of self, their unique potential, their understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, and their will to achieve. As their curiosity about themselves and their place in the world increases, they try to answer for themselves some of life’s fundamental questions. They develop the knowledge, skills, understanding, qualities and attitudes they need to foster their own inner lives and non-material wellbeing.

As well as the obvious ways to promote this through Religious Education and assemblies, we recently asked children to respond to what a religious festival means to them. This was a creative homework: I can show what Eid or Diwali means to me and my community.  Teachers were very impressed by the quality of the homework.  Later in the year, we’ll repeat this homework task for festivals from the Jewish and Christian faith.

Cultural development

Pupils’ cultural development involves pupils acquiring an understanding of cultural traditions and an ability to appreciate and respond to a variety of aesthetic experiences. They acquire a respect for their own culture and that of others, an interest in others’ ways of doing things and curiosity about differences. They develop the knowledge, skills, understanding, qualities and attitudes they need to understand, appreciate and contribute to culture.

We value and respect children from all faiths.  Importantly, we value and respect children with no particular faith, too.  As an alternative to the homework described above, children might have chosen to respond from a cultural prompt: I can respond to a book I’ve recently read.  Again, the quality of the homework was great.  Later in the year, there will be an opportunity to respond to a film or television programme (your child’s chance to become a film or TV critic!) and to a work of art. 

As always, if you’d like to know more about this or any other aspect of the teaching and learning at Moortown Primary, please do contact me.

Can cakes be part of a healthy school?

In the last newsletter, there was an updated list of key dates for the year ahead.  The new dates included two PTA cake sales.

Following this, someone questioned whether we, as a healthy school, should hold such cake sales.  This is a good question – the more prompts we have to reflect on our practice, the better.  And the more prompts for parents, carers, pupils and staff to reflect on our diets and lifestyles, the better, too.

I like to think that it’s better to think about healthy and unhealthy diets rather than healthy and unhealthy foods.  Broccoli is a healthy food, but if we were to eat it all the time at the expense of other vegetables, our diets would be missing out.  The same goes for all food – a broad and balanced diet is what’s needed.  You can learn more with your child about the food pyramid, the eat well plate and look at our own guidance for healthy packed lunches for more advice.

So… My thoughts are that yes, cakes aren’t particularly healthy, but as an occasional treat, for most people, they’re fine.  After all, food containing fats and sugars do feature in the food pyramid and the eat well plate – just in a small amount.

That’s why the PTA’s two cake stalls are held with my full approval.  (At the same time, don’t forget, you’ll also have the opportunity to view some of the children’s work.)

How to read ‘tricky words’.

The children are learning their letters and sounds quickly. They are beginning to blend them together to read and segment  to spell.

This week we will be introducing ‘tricky words’.

These are everyday words that have tricky spellings and can’t be read by blending. Imagine trying to read the word said or does by blending each letter! These words just have to be learned by sight and flashcard-type games are a good way to practise these. We will be sending these tricky words home to learn.

Remember to say the sounds correctly

This is really important when you are helping your child to learn their letter sounds. Just remember not to add an uh to the end of the consonant sounds – so say mmm not muh, lll not luh, etc.

Go to www.oxfordowl.co.uk to see videos of all the sounds being pronounced. This website also contains games and ideas to help your child with their reading and free eBooks to download.

Reception won the Cool Class Cup!

We are very proud to have won the cup this week.

All the staff in school give Cool Class Tokens to children for such things as manners, behaviour and effort. These tokens are collected and counted at the end of  each week. The class with the most tokens wins the cup which is awarded in our Good Work Assembly on Friday.

Great effort!

I was so impressed when marking the children’s homework last week. There were many different creative ways in which they were presented. I loved hearing about how you celebrated Diwali or Eid. It was also lovely to see which books the children are reading at home.

16 November 2012

This week’s spellings are words with ‘igh’. Your child will be tested on Friday 23 November 2012.

• high
• night
• height
• fright
• right
• fight
• tight
• light
• might
• sight

16 November 2012

This week’s homework is Practice makes Perfect. It is due in on Wednesday 21 November. Your child has to colour the squares in a variety of different ways to show one half or one quarter (depending on the sheet they have).

16 November 2012

This week’s spellings are words containing ‘ar’. Your child will be tested on Friday 23 November.

16 November 2012

The homework this week is Talk Time and is due in Wednesday 21 November.

I can talk about different ways to get on with my friends.

Our current SEAL theme is getting on. We’ve been learning about how to manage our feelings as well as learning to understand the feelings of others. Have a discussion with your family about all the ways you can get on with friends in and out of school.

Get your child justify their thoughts by using conjunctions like because or as.

16 November 2012

This week we are spelling words with plurals. The children have to find twelve different spellings to fit the following rules.

Most nouns just add an s:

• envelope   envelopes

Many nouns ending with a consonant and a y: drop the y for an i, then add es:

• family   families

Nouns ending in a ‘s’ or other soft sound (ss, ch, x): add an es:

• dress   dresses
• relax   relaxes
• crutch   crutches

Children will be tested on their twelve individual spelling and other words that have the same rule on Friday 23 November.