“Love your neighbour as yourself” Mark 12: 29-31

Our school culture encourages justice and courageous advocacy, enabling pupils to make ethical choices and be agents of change in various ways. Here are five key examples: 

• Super Leaders: A whole school initiative where each class (Y2-Y6) is a pupil leadership team and responsible for making a positive contribution either to the school, local or global community. Examples of social action where children have taken genuine ownership over projects have included the Eco Warriors making and selling environmentally friendly reindeer food at Christmas and the creation of food hampers for vulnerable local families by the Town Troopers. We have found that nurturing empathy and understanding is the start of action and response.
• Stand Up Speak Up Week: During this special week children become courageous advocates, standing up for the poor, marginalised or the rights of children globally. The aim of the week is to create the confidence that we can make a real change in the face of adversity. In previous SUSU Weeks, children have studied social issues such as climate change, the education of women or linked to their Super Leader Team. Stimuli for the week has been a whole school shared book or learning about children around the world who have been agents of change such as Malala or Greta Thunberg.  Tangible outcomes of the children’s work have shown the children to be strong in their convictions.
• STAR Day: A day whereby children help to choose a charitable cause to support through fund-raising, and which starts with a reminder that as Christians, God has called us to work towards the building of his kingdom here on earth. STAR Day also supports character development.
• Family Worships: Each class leads collective worship for their family once a year. The focus of which is often an issue of social injustice e.g. international day for disabled persons. Our hope is to grow a community of people who have the courage ‘to ‘speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves’ (Proverbs 31:8) as the community we service experience education for wisdom, hope and dignity.
• SOAR Programme: SOAR celebrates children’s participation in extracurricular activities, fostering personal, social, emotional, and character development. It is an enrichment programme, integral to our Personnel Development Strategy. Developed in response to parent and carer feedback, children earn SOAR hours through school clubs, out-of-school activities, representing the school, and leadership roles.

All these initiatives empower our children to claim their voice, take their place as active global citizens, join in with God’s redemptive work in the world, which can be transformative as we ‘tap into’ God’s reality and his vision for the future of His world where justice and mercy will reign. Indeed, we have seen a number of our children go on to raise awareness of issues and fund raise beyond the school gates e.g. litter picking locally, walking for Alder Hey Hospital, a sponsored swim for Alzheimers, volunteering time at Willowbrook Hospice. Some of our pupils have even been recognised further afield e.g. Liverpool SHINE Awards, Granada Reports.