Religious Education, Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education & Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Education
Religious Education
Religious Education provokes challenging questions about the ultimate meaning and purpose of life. It explores the beliefs about God, the nature of reality, issues or right and wrong and encourages contemplation of what it means to be human. It develops knowledge and understanding of faiths in the UK and the wider world. This core area of the curriculum enhances student’s awareness of religious beliefs, teaching, practices and forms of expression. Religious Education encourages students to develop their sense of identity and belonging.
In Years 7 - 9 RE is taught one hour a fortnight. In Year 10 one hour per week and in Year 11 one hour per week.
Example Lessons
 Perceptions of Religion |
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Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education
The Personal, Social, Health and Economic education is taught in the Form Tutor period 2 lessons per week for all year groups. We aim to; equip young people with the knowledge, skills and understanding to play an effective role in public life. To encourage them to take an interest in topical and controversial issues and to engage in discussion and debate. To enhance their spiritual, moral and cultural development. Students will learn about their rights, responsibilities, duties and freedoms and about laws, justice and democracy as well as what makes a healthy, happy and safe relationship.
Citizenship GCSE
Most students will study Citizenship GCSE. We believe that this subject is an essential component of our curriculum. It has the power to motivate and educate our young people into becoming thoughtful, active citizens who engage with British values as well as developing the knowledge, skills and understanding our students will need to play a full part in society as active and responsible citizens.
 Introduction to Political parties in the UK |
Form Tutor programme
All students follow a bespoke tutor programme which includes “The big question”; this encourages meaningful debate in response to an issue which has presented in the media recently, and ensures that our students have an awareness of issues on a global level. Students themselves create a “Thought for the Week’, which is used by the entire academy during our daily one minute’s silence. These daily opportunities for individual reflection ensure that our students become reflective and compassionate learners who feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for the world in which they live.
Assemblies
Our assemblies are delivered by a range of staff, according to their specialisms and passions. Our approach is varied but collectively offers a wide but coordinated basis for spiritual, social and cultural moral development. Assemblies will refer not only to local, but also national and international themes of importance. During this academic year we have already had incredibly powerful assemblies linked to Holocaust Memorial Day, Remembrance, Black History Month and Protected Characteristics, and the response from both our students and staff has been incredible.
SMSC Experience
SMSC stands for spiritual, moral, social and cultural.
Spiritual
Explore beliefs and experience; respect values; discover oneself and the surrounding world; use imagination and creativity; reflect.
Moral
Recognise right and wrong; respect the civil and criminal law of England; understand consequences; investigate moral and ethical issues; offer reasoned views.
Social
Use social skills in different contexts; work well with others; resolve conflicts; understand how communities work; contribute positively to life in modern Britain
Cultural
Appreciate cultural influences; knowledge of Britain's democratic parliamentary system; participate in culture opportunities; understand, accept, respect and celebrate diversity.
SMSC Education
SMSC education is fully embedded within our curriculum and the key concepts, skills and attributes that are developed are delivered throughout the 5-year curriculum, in particular via tutor period, assemblies and the Citizenship GCSE and RE curriculums. This enables the academy to fulfil our statutory responsibility to safeguard students, support their spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development and prepare them for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life.
The curriculum also enables our students to make their own decisions and to take responsibility for their own lives and communities as well as having a grasp of the political, legal and economic functions of society.
PSHE & Wellbeing
Our Approach
Public Health England’s Evidence shows a link between student’s health and wellbeing and attainment. The 2014 briefing shows that students with better health and wellbeing are likely to achieve better academically and are more likely to have effective social-emotional competencies. The culture, ethos and environment of a school influence the health and wellbeing of pupils and their readiness to learn, a positive association exists between academic attainment and physical activity levels of students.
Our vision is to provide a supportive learning environment which promotes student’s social-emotional development, prevents development of mental health challenges, and addresses social-emotional problems that currently exist.
We will do this by supporting staff training and wellbeing; by implementing effective strategies to children, families, and staff; by facilitating mental health services for students who need them; and by continuing to develop ways that enable staff and students to gain a greater positive health and wellbeing in order to benefit their everyday life and lead to their better academic achievement.
Moor End Academy will adopt a whole school approach to emotional and mental well-being that joins together, parents, students and staff in an open door policy so that all feel empowered to talk about emotional and mental well-being.
Moor End Academy takes a proactive approach to protecting and promoting positive mental and emotional well-being through health promotion and support available in our school. We embed positive emotional health throughout our curriculum ensuring that support structures are in place through a strong pastoral team. Students with SEND are supported throughout their time at Moor End Academy as designated staff work with these students to provide comprehensive support.
Our Curriculum
Moor End Academy’s PSHE curriculum is a planned programme of learning which helps students to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to thrive as individuals, family members and members of society. From making responsible decisions about alcohol to succeeding in their first job, PSHE helps pupils to manage many of the most critical opportunities, challenges and responsibilities they will face growing up. We believe that students should be given opportunities to co-construct our PSHE programme in order for the activities and topics to be more engaging and student friendly. We also welcome a partnership between home and school which helps support your child’s personal and social development, and helps deal with issues of increasing complexity such as those related to mental health and staying safe, both online and offline.
Key Stage 3 Programme
The year 7 programme is designed to support the transition into Key Stage 3 and to help your child settle into life at Moor End Academy.
Throughout the year, students learn about valuing difference, respect for self, respect for the rights and dignity of all persons, and respect for the environment around them.
The programme also looks at keeping safe. This includes sessions around mental health, online safety and healthy lifestyles – including the dangers of drugs, alcohol, smoking and unhealthy eating. Year 7 are also involved in sessions around growing up and puberty. This is a time when young people come under new pressures and changes. Therefore we ensure that all students understand the changes occurring and provide information and approaches to help them deal with them in a sensitive way.
The year 8 programme builds on the knowledge students have gained in year 7 and looks at topics such as peer pressure, discrimination, relationships, sex, healthy behaviours, emotional health and personal safety. Relationship and Sex education (RSE) is approached within a broader base of self-esteem and responsibility for the consequences of one’s actions. This will support your child to respect themselves and others, and understand difference. Students learn about the significance of stable relationships as key building blocks of community and society.
The year 9 PSHE programme focuses on topics such as relationships and sex, impact of the media, drugs and the law. The topics covered help students to recognise when they and others are at risk and equips them with the skills, strategies and language they need to take appropriate action.
Key Stage 4 Programme
At Key Stage 4, students extend and rehearse the skills, further explore attitudes and values, and deepen knowledge and understanding acquired during Key Stage 3. The programme reflects the fact that learners are moving towards an independent role in adult life, taking on greater responsibility for themselves and others.
We focus on healthy relationships and healthy behaviour in relationships, the impact of alcohol and drugs on relationships and the importance of self-care. Students will know more about early warning signs of poor health and how they can become the experts of their own body and the need to speak to health professionals about any concerns.
By the end of KS4 at Moor End Academy, pupils will know:
- How to talk about their emotions accurately and sensitively, using appropriate vocabulary.
- That happiness is linked to being connected to others.
- How to recognise the early signs of mental wellbeing concerns.
- Common types of mental ill health, e.g. anxiety and depression.
- How to critically evaluate when something they do or are involved in has a positive or negative effect on their own or others’ mental health.
- The benefits and importance of physical exercise, time outdoors, community participation and voluntary and service-based activities on mental wellbeing and happiness.
British Values
The Department for Education has introduced a statutory duty for schools to promote British Values more actively from September 2014, and to ensure they are taught in schools. Our duty as an educational establishment is not only to support students in gaining the skills required to pass examinations, but also to develop them into well-rounded students who have the skills to continue with further study and then into the world of work. We believe that it is our duty to help our students develop their own beliefs based on making sound moral judgements, based on exposure to different viewpoints, religions and cultures to prepare them for life in a modern Britain.
Moor End Academy is committed to serving its community. It recognises the multi-cultural, multi-faith and ever changing nature of the United Kingdom. It also understands the vital role it has in safeguarding that groups or individuals within the Academy are not subjected to intimidation or radicalisation by those wishing to unjustifiably, or illegally, influence them.
It follows equal opportunities guidance which guarantees that there will be no discrimination against any individual or group, regardless of faith, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, political or financial status. Moor End Academy is dedicated to preparing students for their adult life beyond the formal, examined curriculum and ensuring that it promotes and reinforces British Values to all its students.
The five key British Values are:
- Democracy
- The rule of law
- Individual liberty
- Mutual respect
- Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs
Examples of how these are delivered at Moor End Academy include:
- Moor End Academy Aims and Ethos;
- Student Voice/Leaders activities;
- Personal, Social, Citizenship and Health Education programmes (through the STaRS curriculum);
- Religious Education lessons;
- Activities within curriculum subjects;
- After school clubs;
- Daily Tutorial (L.I.N.K.S Programme)
- Themed Days (three “Drop Down Days)
- Assemblies;
- Charity work;
- Sporting events;
- Educational visits and other Learning Outside the Classroom, including Faith Centre Visits
Democracy
Democracy plays a key role within day to day life of our Academy. Students have the opportunity to have their voices heard through our Academy Student Leaders and play a part in our staff recruitment process. Student representative as well as our Y11 Prefects, Head Prefect and Head Boy and Girl are selected through an election process, as voted by staff and students.
In 2015 we held the General Election
The rule of law
The importance of laws, whether they are those that govern the class, the Academy or the country, are reinforced during the Academy day, as well as when dealing with behaviour and through assemblies and the STaRS (PSHCE) programme. Students are taught the value and reasons behind laws, that they govern and protect us, the responsibilities that this involves and the consequences when laws are broken. We have adopted a restorative practice approach to student behaviour, in which children are taught how to accept responsibility for their actions. All students sign an ICT Acceptable Usage Policy.
Individual liberty
Within the Academy, students are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. Students are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms as well teaching them that how they act can impact positively and negatively on others. They are advised how to exercise these freedoms safely, for example through our STaRS lessons. Whether it is through choice of challenge, how they record work or participate in our numerous extra-curricular clubs and opportunities, students are given the freedom to make choices.
Mutual respect
Respect for each other, for our Academy and to others in our community is an integral part of our school ethos and Behaviour Policy. Students see staff model this by treating each other with respect and courtesy and we promote this in the way our students interact with each other in their classes and during social times. Mutual respect and fair play is also discussed within sports based activities. We teach students about the unfairness of discrimination based on someone’s faith, culture or beliefs through the RE and STaRS programmes of study. We run charity events to actively promote mutual respect for all groups in society.
Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs
This is achieved through enhancing students understanding of their place in a culturally diverse society. Opportunities to share and discuss this message occur through assemblies and discussions involving prejudices and prejudice-based bullying have been promoted through LINKS, STaRS and ‘Anti-Bullying’ work, as well as taking opportunities to tackle this during every day school life.
Black Lives Matter
Teaching an Inclusive Curriculum
Response to George Floyd
Black Lives Matter – we are all equal!
Five years ago, Jo Cox delivered her maiden speech in Parliament. When Jo was murdered a little over a year later the speech went viral. Millions of people across the country realised that Jo was speaking for them when she said, “We are far more united and have far more in common than that which divides us”. Community meant everything to Jo. As it means everything to us. Our community is diverse, and we embrace and celebrate this, for it makes us stronger.
Following the horrific murder of George Floyd by a white police officer in Minneapolis, the instinctive initial response by many has been to take to the streets and protest, demanding justice. His death has, rightly, caused an immediate response of grief and anger, as well as the examination by individuals and organisations across the world about how we respond to such deaths and the racism that they expose in Western society. Events are happening around the world, across America but also in Europe and the UK. The social movement Black Lives Matter have stated, "We are doing this to place pressure on the American government and show that this is a worldwide issue."
As both an academy and a community we are committed to educating our students to have the confidence to challenge and act like leaders who want to make a positive difference. At the academy we pride ourselves on educating our students about current events, and having open and honest conversations about matters which others might shy away from. Student voice is powerful, as are the regular opportunities to reflect on our world. Our tutor programme includes a weekly “Big question” which enables our students to participate in healthy discussion about current local and global issues. Our PSHE programme and Citizenship curriculum support our students to think differently and have the confidence to voice their thoughts in a respectful manner.
As Nelson Mandela stated, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” We encourage our students to “Be the best – become the leaders of tomorrow!” and it is this aspiration, for every single one of our students, which will help bring about systemic change. Our future is what we make it.