All elements of our personal development programme enhance experiences related to SMSC:
Spiritual
Pupils are afforded time to develop their own spiritual or world belief systems. Pupils learn and can begin to form their own viewpoints and perspectives about different faiths and world beliefs through their religious studies lessons, listening to guest speakers such as religious leaders, and the provision of celebration events including Christmas and Easter. We actively encourage pupils to self-reflect on their experiences. This is demonstrated by pupils when they write their end-of-year review for their school report. Pupils also complete an extracurricular participation log book, exploring what they feel they have learned as part of their chosen experiences. We seek to foster a culture of enjoyment, curiosity and creativity in pupils learning more about themselves, others and the world around them.
Moral
As part of our Character Education plan at Hexham Middle School we underpin six positive moral virtues. We aim through our Respect, Engage, Aspire ethos to build the capacity of each pupil to develop intellectually and morally to grow their moral compass. Pupils are fully aware of the consequences of actions through our school behaviour policy. Debating opportunities during form time builds an age-appropriate repertoire of skills to successfully structure a viewpoint.
Social
We seek to support through our excellent pastoral systems and relationships. A variety of meaningful experiences help to foster a strong sense of community. We provide good adult presence during social times of the school day to ensure that pupils are cooperating and communicating with others respectfully.
Cultural
Pupils are given the opportunity to develop an understanding of their own culture and appreciate how this may be similar or different to other cultures. There are a variety of trips and excursions planned across all year groups including those with residential experiences. The extracurricular activity programme at Hexham Middle School actively encourages pupils to take interest and engage with sporting, musical, artistic and other cultural pursuits to help raise ambition and personal aspiration.