SMSC Quality Mark
Whitehouse was delighted to be awarded SMSC Quality Mark "Gold" in May 2021.
What is SMSC?
SMSC stands for Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural learning. It sits at the heart of education and enables children and young people to make appropriate choices as they encounter complex and changing circumstances in our modern society.
When addressed well, SMSC development has the potential to:
- Raise aspirations
- Develop empathy
- Deepen spirituality
- Connect young people with their communities
- Create opportunities for pupils to learn and practise human virtues
- Instil values such as compassion, hope, faith and forgiveness
- Develop values that challenge individuals beyond the material world.
What is the SMSC Quality Mark?
Young Citizens has worked with experts in the field to create a self-review tool and verification service to help your school audit and improve your SMSC provision. By assessing existing SMSC delivery using the SMSC Quality Mark, schools have the opportunity to reflect on their current provision and use that to nurture future plans.
Visit the National SMSC Quality Mark website to learn more about the self-review tool.
Once they have completed the self-review tool, there is an optional verification process. Verification provides an independent, expert validation of schools' self-review and assesses their SMSC provision in line with national guidance and benchmarks with other schools across the country. Successfully verified schools receive a certificate and are entitled to publicise their SMSC Quality Mark on their website, documentation and other materials.
More than 800 schools have already accessed the self review tool. This includes primary and secondary schools, as well as numerous special schools and alternative education providers.