Social, moral, spiritual and cultural (SMSC) and British Values at Beachcroft Academy is taught discretely throughout the curriculum and through extra curricular programmes. In lessons it is prevalent through the language that is modelled for leaners, challenging misconceptions, selection of topics and texts that broaden learners’ exposure to a range of different cultures. For example, travel and currency is a topic of work in Key Stage 3 Maths, and Refugee Boy is a set text for Key Stage 3 English.
PSHE is taught as part of the curriculum to all year groups using the Votes4Schools programme. Attendance to this was initially poor, and as a result, PSHE lessons have been re-timetabled to a different part of the day (they had previously all been timetabled at Period 1) so that learners’ attendance to, and engagement with these lessons would be higher.
This is also further enhanced by the use of extra curricular opportunities to broaden learners’ exposure to SMSC and British Values. Every learner has the opportunity to access enrichment as part of their timetable. This included, but is not limited to, participation in the PanArts programme, Music Club, use of local leisure centres for Offsite PE, Cooking Club, Games Club, Art Club and more.
We also facilitate a number of visits as part of our wider curriculum. These include visits to Mary Seacole’s grave site, the British Museum, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the Unicorn Theatre, the Roundhouse, and so on.
We focus on key events for our learners within school in social time such as World Food Day, where learners and staff cook and share cultural dishes with each other, Black History Month which was celebrated with a primary school dance, story writing around Anansi, assemblies and trips, Remembrance Day, Red for Anti Racism Day, Autism Awareness month and more.