INSET training at Northfield Road on Monday.  We demonstrated how it was possible to link together the global dimensions (interdependence, sustainable development,values and perceptions, social justice, diversity, human rights, global citizenship and conflict resolution), with the new history and geography primary curricula through the Spitirtual, Cultural, Moral and Social threads as outlined by Ofsted.  So the new curriculum could be addressed to include the dimensions as a normal part of the children’s learning without imposing an extra add-on  for the teachers and at the same time the ‘golden thread’ of the smsc can be intertwined.

For example if teachers taught the Amazon Basin as part of the new key stage 2 curriculum using resources developed by B&C, they could easily flag up interdepence and sustainable development whilst considering cultural and moral aspects of rainforest clearance.  The effect would be that the children were learning the important geographical aspects of the Amazon basin yet in their planning the teachers could show that they were meetingnot only the national curriculum requirements but additionally related and relevant facets of the global dimensions and SMSC.