Courageous Advocacy
Growing courageous advocates for change
For Diggers leader Gerrard Winstanley, any Christianity which focused on individual salvation was bankrupt – Christ's message was a revolutionary doctrine that demanded rebuilding society in the common interest.
Here at St Mary’s, we are trying to be revolutionary in our own way- fighting injustice- speaking out and more importantly enabling others to change through our shared courage.
‘Anyone who calls out injustice is a prophet’
At St Mary’s we hope that In educating for wisdom, hope, community and dignity we help to build God’s kingdom here on earth and work to bring about a fairer and more joyful world.
What is ‘courageous advocacy’?
The act of speaking out against an issue of injustice, often on behalf of those whose voice is not heard. Speaking out, at whatever level this takes place, requires an element (and sometimes a great deal) of courage! Becoming a courageous advocate for change means being informed about an issue but moving beyond simply knowing, to saying and doing.
The thread running through the Bible is of a loving God, willing people to love each other in order to bring the Kingdom to earth. We aim at St Mary’s to teach our children this message, that they as Christians are advocates for God and that at times this means they need to be courageous. They need to speak out for those that are poor, or weak, those who cannot speak or act for themselves. We use the terms ‘courageous advocacy’ and ‘global citizenship’ interchangeably as for us they both convey an approach to education that embodies an ethos of action taking, challenging injustice and becoming agents of change in the transformation of ourselves, our relationships and our communities from local level to the global.
Every child at St Mary’s is a courageous advocate and a global citizen. We work hard to empower our children with the message that everyone can make a difference. We support charities chosen by our school, highlighting their work and supporting them with fundraising and activities. We also ensure each term every class at St Mary’s ensures that it is working as global citizens through planned activities linked to our wider curriculum. We also encourage our children to be responsive, to act where they see injustice, and where they see need.
Courageous advocacy at St Mary’s:
Taking action should be a deeply educational and empowering experience involving reflection and critical thinking.
- Pupils should be involved in decision-making and have a sense of ownership and understanding of why they are taking a particular action
- Pupils should be encouraged to think critically through the full range of options and how they help address the causes and symptoms of a particular situation
- Pupils should be supported to think through the possible consequences of their actions and to take account of the law, school policies and ethical and safety considerations
- Pupils should reflect on what has been learned through taking action
Reception
Ephesians 4:32
‘Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another.’
In Reception, we have been exploring our school value of compassion and have been thinking about those people who are less fortunate than ourselves. We spoke of the elderly and how many of them are without families. Inspired by some Christmas adverts on the TV which focus on the elderly and loneliness at Christmas time, we decided it would be a nice idea to do something special for some of our residents in the community. The children thought that it would be nice to give some little gifts to them so that they feel appreciated around the festive period.
We decided as a class, to ask for small donations of chocolate, biscuits, sweets etc and made a hamper for the residents of St Lukes Care Home. We also made cards to wish them a happy and peaceful Christmas.
Our aim for this act of Courageous Advocacy was to show compassion and kindness to those less fortunate than ourselves and share the gift of kindness during the festive period.
As a result, we hope that our children become better Christians who are more aware of how they can help care for others.
Year 1
Year 1 have used their literacy Pathways book as a stimulus to develop their courageous advocacy. They spent some time looking at how they could “Protect Our Oceans” as part of their work on Courageous Advocacy and as a tool for developing their curriculum writing. They used their Pathways to Write Literacy Text; Lost and Found as a basis of extending their learning about a penguin’s habitat and other animals who live in the oceans. The children looked at videos and pictures showing how pollution, in particular plastic, is affecting natural parts of our environment, especially in the oceans.
These examples of CA are particularly relevant for children, because they can see physically how pollution is harming wild animals and their homes. Our aim was to challenge our children about what they could do to tackle “plastic pollution”, even in their small part of the world.
Year 2
Year 2 made litter pickers in Design Technology using a lever movement. The children used their litter pickers to collect litter in school and at home. They were very excited about using them but also quite upset about how much litter they saw. When we discussed this the children were cross as they said we are not looking after God’s world. They linked this back to the work they had completed on Creation.
We reread Genesis Ch 1 v26-30 and talked about what it meant for us as Christians. We then discussed what happens to all the rubbish and watched a film about recycling, which made us realise that we are not recycling properly at St Mary’s and could be doing more to look after our world, that God gave to us to look after.
Our work on Courageous Advocacy allowed us the expand this idea beyond the Year 2 classroom and into all the classrooms at St Mary’s. The children investigated which rubbish could be recycled in Halton and made posters to display on each classes recycling bin. The children then went in small groups to talk to each class, being a Courageous Advocate to explain to them what to do.
Year 3
’ Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.’ (Psalm 34:14)
In Year 3 as part of our whole school Remembrance work we discussed war, and the impact war has on individuals, families and on society as a whole. As a whole school project, we focussed on World War 1 and the impact that the war had on other countries around the world, including West Indies and China. In year 3, we looked at Australia and learnt about the devastating effects that the war had on their country. We discovered that many men died, many were injured and that a small minority survived the war, which was a similar story to soldiers from our country. This particularly resonated with the children when they realised that large numbers of men were dying and being injured all over the world. This is where our Courageous Advocacy work came into our lessons.
Courageous Advocacy involves us speaking out, making our voices heard and completing actions that we make find difficult, but are for the good of our community. This is the part of the work that requires courage, to speak when we are perhaps wary or when we know our opinion is against others. Because we had spent time learning about the effects of World War 1 we could relate this devastation to wars that are happening now. We focussed on the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel as the children are aware of this through news. We watched some Newsround video clips and discussed what the children knew about the war already. They expressed their views about Hamas as the aggressor and how they hoped that the war would be resolved to save the innocent people who are being harmed. Our children have used the symbol of the poppy to write prayers and thought for peace. This has given them a chance to explore their feelings and also to express their hopes for the future. Some of the poppies had prayers to God asking for peace whilst others were directed towards Hamas, as seen as the aggressor. They were also aimed at Israel, asking them to now stop their retaliation against Hamas to spare the lives of the civilians who are caught in the middle. We have taken pictures of the poppy messages and have sent them to the Israeli embassy in the hope that they will consider our opinions and change their policies. We have also sent them to Hamas to persuade them to end all war and violence.
Year 4
Raising Awareness
In response to World Mental Health Day, Year 4 decided to use their class assembly to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world, to promote discussion about feelings and emotions and to encourage people to think about how we can support their own and others’ mental health. They spoke about ways to support mental health and wellbeing because Christians believe that serving people is a way of honouring Jesus by caring for others and demonstrating his love for them through positive actions. In Jeremiah chapter 33 verse 6, God says: Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.
Year 5
In Year 5 inspired by the story they heard during our whole school worship. The story was about a boy in Mexico, who learnt about the United Nations Rights of the Child and was inspired to make a change in their country. They organised meetings with senior government officials and the Children’s Constitution of Mexican children was set up. At the end of the story, the children found that the boy had cerebral palsy and all agreed that their rights mattered just as much as everyone else’s. On top of this, the children discussed how the world was probably more difficult for this boy, as the challenges they face are not always catered for in day-to-day life.
Following on from this, the children considered what they could do to make disabled people feel more included and valued in society. We linked this to Psalm 139:13-14 and talked about how we are all made in God’s image. We decided that, as part of Christmas performance we would learn the Makaton signs for one of the songs and use the actions as we performed.
Our work on Courageous Advocacy has seen the children want to learn more Makaton and use it across their school day. We will continue to learn more as the year goes on and hopefully, teach other classes during an assembly.
Because CA is the act of speaking out against an issue of injustice, (often on behalf of those whose voice is not heard.) Speaking out, at whatever level this takes place, requires an element (and sometimes a great deal) of courage! Becoming a courageous advocate for change means being informed about an issue but moving beyond simply knowing, to saying and doing. Courageous advocacy is an approach to education that embodies an ethos of action taking, challenging injustice and becoming agents of change.
Hopefully these small acts will help us to follow Jesus’ teaching to keep His world safe.
Year 6
Dear Parents,
We want to talk to you today about Food Miles. At this time of Harvest, we investigated where our supermarket food comes from, and how quite often it has travelled many thousands of miles to get to our supermarket shelves. We want to tell you why this is not a good thing, and why we would want to convince the supermarkets and you as customers, that there is an alternative.
Some bananas have been grown in Barbados. We used the website www.foodmiles.com to work out that they have travelled 4,214 miles. More importantly, this has produced 414kg of carbon- we will talk later about the environmental impact that has.
Broccoli could be grown in England, but the supermarkets have imported it from Italy. It has travelled 890 miles, producing 87 kg of carbon.
One type of supermarket apples are Pink-Lady Apples. Apples grow well in this country, but people like this sweet variety. We were amazed to find they have travelled all the way from New -Zealand. A massive 11,690 miles and a whopping 1,149 kg carbon produced.
So, what is the impact of this? We know that using fuel in planes and boats produces massive amounts of carbon and greenhouse gases that is warming up our earth. We have recently seen the devastating effect of this with droughts, floods, coastal areas disappearing. The future of our planet is under threat. So is all this travelling necessary? We think supermarkets need to be looking closer to home for our food. We think that we, as customers, need to be choosing more local food.
What else could we do? We could work on our food waste; we could use our vegetable and fruit peelings to make compost rather than it going to landfill. Maybe we could look to grow more food of our own. Every little bit could help. What can you do?
In John Chapter 6:12-Jesus told his disciples after they had eaten, to gather the pieces that had been left over. “Let nothing be wasted.”