School Life

Belonging at SPCS

At SPCS we are committed to ensuring that everybody experiences a sense of belonging. For older pupils, their number one question about a new school tends to be: how will I fit in?

SPCS wants to be a school where individuals belong, rather than having to ‘fit in’. We are a community, with shared values and experiences, but a community of individuals, each one of whom is equal, and belongs.

How do we achieve ‘Belonging’?

We work to establish a culture where all experience a deep sense of belonging. This is achieved through our focus on respect, including pupils in decision-making, ensuring everyone makes a contribution and through raising awareness of the challenges around belonging in the wider world.

We reinforce the importance of respect, ‘for yourself, for others and for the world around you’, for our pupils of all ages. This gives them a sound basis for understanding why belonging matters.

We include pupils in many kinds of decision-making, whether it is in how they learn, what activities they choose, what resources we are buying for their classroom or what charities we will support. This gives a sense of agency and community responsibility.

We ensure everyone has the chance to be involved, representing the school whether in a hockey match or a maths challenge, so that all feel the sense of belonging that comes with making a contribution.

We also raise awareness through assemblies and projects of how belonging and exclusion work in the wider world, allowing our pupils to reflect on justice and to see how they can make a positive difference.

Our most recent inspection visit found that ‘leaders and staff effectively promote the importance of treating all groups of people with respect, including with regard to their protected characteristics. Pupils are conversant with the school’s positive values’.

Our Belonging Committee gives pupils a chance to take action and raise awareness on equity, diversity and inclusion matters. Current projects include reviewing our menus to ensure they reflect the rich diversity of our pupil body and looking at the wording of our hymn books, to ensure we use inclusive language in our community singing.