We achieved the GOLD SMSC Mark!  

At Halfway Houses we are passionate about teaching and embedding values across the school. Our school ethos is based around our four core values of independence, collaboration, aspiration and creativity. We also have monthly values which we discuss during assemblies and embed these during our learning across the curriculum.

Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (SMSC) development is the over-arching umbrella that encompasses personal development across the whole curriculum.

Ofsted puts SMSC ‘at the heart’ of school development. It requires schools to think about the kind of people we aspire to be, the kind of world we aspire to create, and the kind of education we aspire to provide.

We have weekly ‘talking points’ where all our children have the chance to debate and vote on a question such as ‘Should animals be kept in a zoo?’ Our children also receive value tokens for a variety of reasons such as if they have opened a door for somebody or if they have shown kindness to another child. The tokens are collected in their school house and the winning house will receive a reward at the end of each term!

We are very proud to have achieved the GOLD SMSC quality mark for our school. This is a national mark which recognises schools for their understanding of child and staff wellbeing; pupil engagement across all areas of the curriculum; giving the children the opportunity for culture visits and allowing all of our children to have a voice.