As #TEAMCallington we aspire to the belief that
‘Everything is possible’

Callington Community College actively promotes our Fundamental British Values of:

• Democracy
• The rule of law
• Individual liberty and mutual respect
• Tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.

As #TEAMCallington we:
Celebrate diversity
See everyone as equal
Know what it is to have freedom
Are responsible for our actions

Curriculum statement

Citizenship and SMSC embodies the values that underpin our culture and sit at the ‘heart’ of our curriculum at Callington Community College. It is our ‘DNA’ that interleaves through every subject, every aspect of student life at the college, and our wider community. At Callington, our staff believe we are all teachers of citizenship and SMSC, modeling both in our teaching and how we conduct ourselves as people and professionals. At Callington our vision for Citizenship and SMSC is holistic, bridging both curriculum and pastoral areas.  They are critical agendas that form a rich hinterland of knowledge in all subject based curriculums. They help develop the cultural capital of our diverse community and they also play a key role in the safeguarding and personal development of all our students.

At Callington, Citizenship and SMSC can be seen as a 3 dimensional curriculum that spirals and grows as our students do. Threshold concepts of knowledge are developed via our tutor programme, all subject specialisms and all our extra curricular experiences for our students. Our Citizenship and SMSC curriculum is a challenging journey of metacognitive learning and developing emotional intelligence. We believe this can’t be imposed on our students, it must happen with them. We are the facilitators of this curriculum, but student voice guides it. There is an on-going, critical dialogue with our young people through student voice and student leadership. Through this approach our vision is to engender a truly representative cultural capital for our students, based on equality of opportunity. A criticism of the cultural capital agenda is that some see it as ‘elitist’ and ‘intertwined with privileged lifestyles’. Given the context and growing diversity of our college we believe therefore that developing student voice is of high importance.

Citizenship and SMSC is very much about values through education. A values based education is incredibly powerful, one that nourishes an ‘inner curriculum’ in all of us. This ‘inner curriculum’ develops emotional intelligence, self regulation, self belief and positive affirmation in who we are as individuals. It is our vision at Callington Community College therefore to nurture the belief in all of us that ‘everything is possible’.

What is Citizenship and SMSC and why is it important?

Citizenship is a statutory National Curriculum subject and is compulsory in secondary schools.

All maintained schools must meet the requirements set out in section 78 of the Education Act 2002 and promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of their pupils. Through ensuring pupils’ SMSC development, schools actively promote fundamental British Values which form part of the Prevent Duty (Strategy). Protecting students from the risk of radicalisation is part of the College’s overall safeguarding responsibilities. Schools have a legal responsibility to “have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. At Callington we challenge opinions or behaviours that are contrary to fundamental British Values.

British Values Statement

At Callington Community College we promote ‘British Values’ through the entire curriculum as part of our SMSC provision. We fully recognise the multi-cultural, multi faith and ever-changing face of Britain. We understand the crucial role the whole community plays in promoting diversity, tolerance and understanding in a rural community.

The College recognises the importance of this aspect of the curriculum especially in an area of Britain where our students have limited access to people of different faiths, beliefs and cultures. We acknowledge the need for discussion of the term ‘British values’ and seek to promote on-going debate and exploration of what it means to be British. We believe that every member of the College Community has a part to play in modeling and promoting respect for others and upholding the ‘British Values’.

These values are informed by those outlined in the government guidance on Promoting Fundamental British Values: November 2014. They are:

Democracy

Students have many opportunities for their voice to be heard. We have an elected student leadership team with democratic elections held once a year. In addition, the College has a student voice organisation based on the Smart School Councils model. All year groups are represented by student voice ambassadors who form a ‘communications team’. Student voice ambassadors meet on a weekly basis to discuss issues students and staff have raised. These issues might be from within our community, or reflect wider global concerns. The team then looks to gather feedback via student voice questionnaires and designated discussion in tutor time. All students are invited to form ‘action groups’ should they wish to act. An ‘action team’ might be long or short term. Students might wish to propose an ‘mufti’ event to raise money for a charitable cause, or they may wish to set up a club or group that reflects specific interests. There are many other student groups where students lead, represent others’ views and make decisions, for example the Eco Group, Cloud 9, and the Subject Ambassadors. There are regular student surveys (whole school and classroom based), to gather the views of students to inform planning. Democracy is a significant part of the PSHEE and Citizenship curriculum as well as part of the tutor programme.

Rule of Law

The College has strong links with Police Community Officers, Youth Intervention Officers and Education officers who liaise on the Prevent agenda and other key issues. Students are taught the value and reasons behind the laws that govern and protect us, the responsibilities involved and they are taught to understand the consequences when laws are broken. Through our evidence based and inclusive behaviour policy at College we encourage students to set codes of behaviour and we help students make decisions and choices that respect the school and wider community, creating an environment of respect and responsibility. The College has a clear ethos of ‘how we do things here’, supported by our motto of ‘Respect, Committed, Safe.’

Individual Liberty

The College is committed to creating a learning environment that produces the right conditions for students to become resilient and independent learners. We set high expectations and encourage our students to set challenging personal targets. Students are encouraged to become active and valued citizens. Through the ‘My story, My Journey’ initiative that runs from year 7 to year 11, all students are encouraged to document the rich and varied activities they involve themselves in as they grow and develop. This reflects our rich and diverse community. The College has a strong tradition of volunteering and we promote this through our student leadership programme, as well as our teams of subject and student voice ambassadors.

Mutual Respect

Respect is a strong part of the College’s ethos and vision. Students learn their behaviours have an effect on their own rights and those of others. All members of the College community are expected to treat each other with respect and this is reinforced in every area of the curriculum and culture: this is ‘how we do things here’.

Tolerance and acceptance of those with different cultures and beliefs

As a College in a rural community we recognise the importance of providing opportunities that promote acceptance of other cultures and beliefs. As well as having a number of international staff in the college our students benefit from many international visitors and visits. The RE curriculum provides a broad and balanced education on a range of faiths and cultures and the PSHEE and Citizenship curriculum ensures all opportunities are taken to broaden our students’ knowledge of other cultures. In staff planning of schemes of work all teachers aim to develop students’ understanding of SMSC and include consideration of British Values. All subject specialisms contribute energetically to SMSC and Citizenship through a team of passionate and dedicated teachers who believe in the vital role they play in the community.

At the College we strive to ensure that our students leave with the strongest foundation of values upon which to build a successful life and make a full contribution to our society.