Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural Development (SMSC)

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) is an umbrella term used to describe developing our student’s personal development and character.

At CFGS we ensure that our students have experiences which enable them to develop and flourish in the following aspects of their lives:

• Spirituality – Understanding different meanings and purpose of life and exploring their own.
• Morality  – Understanding different ideas on what is right and wrong as well as exploring their own.
• Social – Being able to articulate their personal viewpoints, respectfully challenge others and integrate with people who are different to them.
• Cultural – Understanding diversity by participating in cultural activities, preparing them to flourish in multi-cultural Britain.

The spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of every girl at CFGS is recognised as being of fundamental importance for their education by governors, staff and parents of the school. SMSC is taught through all subjects of the curriculum, and emphasised particularly during Religious Education and Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (PSHEE).

Students are encouraged to practise the ‘Central Skills’ which helps develop their SMSC selves. These skills are creativity, adaptability, analytical, communication and problem-solving skills. In addition, through our school curriculum we promote the Central Essentials which are five core character traits: ambitious, independent, resilient, respectful and integrity. Students are rewarded for demonstrating these traits around the school environment.

At CFGS we develop SMSC outside the curriculum. This might be through trips, the School Council, student-led charity events, celebrating awareness days, careers events, work experience, GRIT&ROCK (a charity which aims to help teenage girls aged 13 to 15 from deprived, inner-city backgrounds develop greater grit, determination and self-confidence through a year-long mountaineering training programme), Duke of Edinburgh, sports clubs and opportunities to become ambassadors and stewards for many areas around the school.

SMSC ambassadors also help promote SMSC within the school. They participate in regular meetings where they introduce new ideas that they believe will help develop students’ SMSC development. In addition, we have our own International Stewards team who actively work throughout the year to fulfil their vision of making all CFGS students dynamic global citizens. We have worked with various international schools located in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Spain and France and we hope to continue to partner up on various curriculum oriented projects to create a sense of global community for all students.