Global Neighbours & Courageous Advocacy

EXCITING NEWS!

This week we received the amazing news that we have been successful and can now call ourselves a Bronze Global Neighbours School! Thank you to the Global Ambassadors for all their work. We are now waiting for our certificate to arrive.

Congratulations to our Global Ambassadors who have teamed up with Mrs Parks to gain our first Plastic free school award. This year we have worked really hard to be contributing to our community and to teach the children that they can be the change for any injustice they see or an issue they feel passionate about. We hope to continue to develop this further next year.

“Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves. Protect the rights of all who are helpless” Proverbs 31:8

At St Lawrence C of E Primary School, we are courageous advocates for the common good, locally, nationally and globally. We recognise that life is full of ups and downs and that at times all people will face challenges that they need help and support in overcoming. We believe that people are worth spending time with, that people need time to grow and need loving attention. The Christian Gospel says that every person has a unique task to do, with God, and for God, whether they know it or not.

Within the community our school stands up for what it believes in. Our Christian Values of Love, Compassion & Respect and British Values (Rule of Law, Tolerance, Democracy, Mutual Respect and Individual Liberty) ensure that opportunities to discuss current world issues, to challenge injustice and to engage in activities that can bring about change are always present. Such as:

• Fair Trade School – we are a Fair Achiever School
• Holocaust Memorial Day
• WW1 Centenary – Mutual Respect and Peace Remembrance activities
• D-Day
• Collective Worship planning
• Equality: Black History Month; International Women’s Day
• 40 Days of Lent
• Politics – General Election; Brexit; Voting for Head Boy and Girl: Democracy
• Refugee Week
   

We understand that life can be challenging at times and that all people, including friends, family and global citizens will face difficulties that they need help to persevere with in order to overcome them. We aim to inspire courageous advocacy and instill our Christian Values in the whole St Lawrence community. To ensure that we and our community give, inspire and flourish together, we have been and are supportive of a range of charities in our local area, nationally and globally. Some of these include:

• Alive & Kicking (footballs for Kenya)
• Christian Aid
• Toilet Twinning (toilets in Liberia, Malawi, Burundi, Guatemala & Uganda)
• Alton Food Bank
• NSPCC
• Children in Need
• Comic Relief
• Sports Relief
• British Heart Foundation
• Muscular Dystrophy UK
• Princess Trust
• The Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal.
• Harvest Festival Food Donations.

Our children have a good understanding of the meaning of belonging to a local and global community and the sense of responsibility that comes with belonging; therefore developing their ability to empathise and make a small sacrifice to benefit others. Together we consider the beauty and fragility of our environment, the actions we take, and the impact these actions may have on the well-being of everyone. Our school community and curriculum actively embraces a responsibility for the world in which we live. We are diligent to show our connection with, and care for, the world in which we all live and care for the people who live in it:

• Links with Brendoncare Residential Home
• Links with Library Club
• Head Boy and Head Girl laying a wreath at the Cairn as part of the Remembrance Service in the town
• Developing links with our newly twinned school in Rwanda
• Celebrating Earth Day as a whole school and considering our part to play
• Becoming a Fair Trade School and promoting this within out community

GLOBAL NEIGHBOURS

“Love one another as I have loved you.” (John 13:34)

Recently, our school achieved the Bronze Award for Global Neighbours. This recognises our passion and determination to be the change within our local, national and international communities.

The children will benefit by knowing that, as a church school, we do these things because Jesus asked us to ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. They will understand that it is our responsibility as global citizens, to look after the world and all the people in our world no matter of their colour or religion.

The accreditation scheme celebrates schools that are helping pupils learn about global poverty and the Christian responsibility to tackle it, as well as giving them the tools to play a confident part in creating a fairer world.

"In partnership with the Church of England’s Education Office, we want to encourage a deeper understanding of global injustice and the Christian response to it in primary school pupils across England."

(christianaid.org.uk, 2019)

It is our aim that our children at St Lawrence will develop as courageous advocates and realise that they can be agents for change right here and now. We hope to inspire our children to be stewards of the world they live in and to inspire courageous advocacy and instill our Christian Values within the whole St Lawrence community.

We have been looking at what Ubuntu means - "I am because you are" meaning we are all interconnected across the world and across our differences. Our Collective Worship Crusaders have led Collective Worships on this theme and we have also been having a prayer focus for Rwanda on our prayer wall.

During Collective Worship, the children tied ribbons onto the railings to represent their prayers for all refugees in this country and all over the world.

GLOBAL AMBASSADORS

We have Global Ambassadors who are chosen after writing letters of application. These children are representatives from every class and meet with the Headteacher to not only discuss Fair Trade issues but other global issues such as climate change and use of plastics.

We have recently become a member of ACAN (Alton Climate Action Network) and are working towards our Plastic Free School awards. One of our first actions is to create an action plan and then to organise family litter pick packs. We have sourced used rucksacks and then filled them with littler pickers and gloves so that families can take these over a weekend or holiday and help to tidy up their local area.

Our Global Ambassadors have also recently organised for us to be a collection point for Alton Food Bank. This is being generously supported by our families and community. Our Global Ambassadors are going to be taking our collection to Alton Food Bank. They will be able to see for themselves what actually happens to the food once it arrives at the Food Bank.

Thanks to our Global Ambassadors, we are now a collection point for Alton Food Bank. It was important for them to see what happens to the food after it has left our collection box so Bob, our Governor and Food Bank volunteer took our Global Ambassadors to the Alton Food Bank warehouse. They weighed the donations, dated them and put them on the shelves. After that they made up two crates for the food bank. Thank you Bob for a great learning experience!

Our Global Ambassadors have been busy helping in the community this half term. They undertook a litter pick around Alton collecting all sorts of rubbish from the high street and around St Lawrence church. You might have seen them in their high vis jackets! 

Bigfoot Arts Education visited St Lawrence today starting with a whole school assembly. Maddie then visited Year 3, Year 5 and Year 6 to talk about Little Amal in some workshops. The children discussed empathy, how to show kindness and compassion and how simple acts can make a real difference.