SMSC Provision

Themes of the Week to support Worship, Tutor Time, PSHE and Citizenship.

St Mary’s operates a yearly plan of themes for each week that change each fortnight. The themes provide broad subject areas relating to our Christian ethos and values and SMSC and provide a focus for our work. These themes interweave with SMSC, PSHE, Citizenship, collective worship, acts of worship and tutorials where staff and students are encouraged to consider how the themes of the week can apply to the work they are studying and activities in which they take part.

Collective Worship & Acts of Worship

Weekly collective Christian acts of worship (AOW) take place for all students and staff and are centred upon the theme of the week linked to relevant Gospel values. These are led by local clergy, staff and student leaders. An  example of this would be the collective acts of worship led by members of the ARK Army, (Act of Random Kindness Group), on the theme of Sharing linked to our charity focus for the autumn term. This theme supported the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Appeal to help underprivileged children around the world at Christmas time.
The worship programme supports student SMSC development by providing opportunities for students to reflect on and/or consider a range of subjects related to the Christian faith as well as faiths of other groups. The School has a Worship Policy, (see under Parents/Carers/Policies on the website), that explains how Worship is used in the School as part of its educaitoanl provision for all students.

Themes of the Week

Each day, during tutor time, students are given the opportunity to consider a weekly theme linked to our Gospel/Christian values. Each theme supports opportunities for spiritual, moral, social or cultural development and tutorial activities are followed by a short time to reflect or pray. Some examples of themes of the week are:

The themes of the week are published in our school calendar and are part of the displays on noticeboards and plasma screens around the school.

Student Support Days

Student Support Days are planned to take place approximately once each term and involve the normal timetable being suspended for a whole or part of a day. This allows students and staff to take part in activities over an extended period of time and have the opportunity to work together including across different year groups.

Student Support Days are used to deliver aspects of the curriculum that may not fit into any one subject and from which students benefit by taking an extended period of time to study. Study Support Days are also used to provide opportunities for fieldwork to take place or for guest speakers, theatre companies and other projects to be invited into school. Student Support days in the Sixth Form are used to deliver the core RE programme. Examples of recent Student Support Day topics have included: