Courageous Advocacy

Courageous Advocacy is an integral part of the Church of England Education Office's vision for education.  Courageous Advocacy equips children with the skills, tools, confidence, and opportunity to speak up and take action on issues of justice as children and young people are integral to building a fairer and more sustainable world for everyone.

Embedded in the instructions God gave to his people in Leviticus and Deuteronomy is God’s heart that all, including the disadvantaged, should have the opportunity to flourish. It is about identifying an injustice and trying to find a root cause so actions can target that root cause. e.g. asking why people are hungry and giving them the means to overcome the barriers rather than sending food parcels. 'Educating for courageous advocacy must embody an ethos of action-taking, challenging injustice and becoming agents of change in the transformation of ourselves, our relationships and our communities from the local level to the global.' (Courageous Advocacy, Christian Aid.)

Our curriculum is designed to support children in developing the confidence, skills and courage to act as agents of change and take social justice actions across KS2 from their entry starting points.

Agents of Change 

At St Francis' we inspire all children to be a 'light in the world' by providing children with the tools and inspiration to lead and develop positive change, which will also develop their confidence as they go forward and bring about change. We want our children to grow up believing they can find their light, put it on a stand and give that light to others. By this we mean teaching children to act by speaking out against an issue of injustice, often on behalf of those whose voice is not heard. By raising awareness to issues, they can spark the light in others to join the discussion too.

Speaking out and shining their light to others, at whatever level this takes place, requires an element (and sometimes a great deal) of courage and underpinning self-belief, confidence and understanding that in this massive world, they can use their voice to make changes that will impact positively on themselves and others. Staff support each other in shining their light as agents of change as role models to our community. 

Philosophy 4 Children 

This starts in school through our curriculum. In particular, the Philosophy 4 Children that Mrs Lakey introduced in 2013 with the support of an EEF research project. The curriculum explicitly teaches children to form opinions through enquiry and the exploration of ideas following a given topic, see below. Children, on entry, have not experienced Philosophy for Children before, so the explicit teaching of social skills such as turn taking, disagreeing respectfully, forming and justifying opinions underpins the teaching of creative, critical, caring and collaborative thinking. These thinking skills will be integral in any career sector in the future, even ones that have not been developed yet and we ensure all children experience modelling and their own development of these skills from their starting point with us. Children value these skills and can see their relevance for their future life and careers, as Finley said near the end of Year 6, "Imagine the skills I would have had if I joined in Year 3 rather than the end of Year 5!"

Eco-Warriors

Information coming soon...

Archbishops Young Leaders Award 

Information coming soon...

Archbishop Younger Leaders Group 

Information coming soon...

School based confidence building

A government policy paper (Enabling Social Action, 2017) defined social action as, ‘People coming together to tackle an issue, support other people, or improve their local area. It involves people giving their time and other resources for the common good, in a range of forms – from volunteering to community-owned services, and peer networks to community organising.’ 

As children find their light by developing their self-awareness of strengths, self-confidence and thinking skills, we provide opportunities for them to realise they can be a catalyst for a change through school based social action opportunities.  There are a range of child leadership opportunities available that include, but are not limited to: 

Pupil leaders:

• House Captains and Vice Captains

• School Council representatives

• SNAG Leaders (Healthy Eating) 

• Collective Worship Leaders 

• Games Leaders 

• Leap Leaders  

• Mini Police 

• Eco Warriors 

• Digital Citizens 

• Peer mentors 

Community opportunities:

• Seen and Heard – Investing in Children   

• Ogden Trust Science Champions

• Careers Champions

• Newton Aycliffe Police ACES Awards

National opportunities 

• Archbishops Younger Leaders Group

Charity Work

We have a number of charities we support through voluntary donations every year. These have been chosen as they allow staff and community members shine their light to our community and highlight charity work that is close to their hearts. Information is provided to children in collective worship about the importance of these events and it is also shared on the Newsletter with our community.

St Clare's Food Bank - Trussell Trust 

Through our core value of love we complete an annual collection for the food bank at St Clare's Church. It is accessed by many people in our local community and is important in helping local people meet their families basic needs. Every Harvest time, we collect items for the food bank and take them with us when we attend our Harvest Service at St Clares'.

Polly showed her Christian values of compassion and love in supporting the local community. She had moved to our area and was concerned that some people had empty cupboards in their kitchens before the end of the week. As an agent of change she asked class staff if she could organise a whole school non-uniform/pyjama day to collect more items for the food bank. 

To find out more about our local food bank or the work of the Trussell Trust please see the links below. 

Jeans 4 Genes 

There are many people living with genetic conditions. The Jeans for Genes campaign raises awareness of the daily challenges faced by those living with a genetic condition and raises money to fund projects that make a tangible difference to the lives of those affected. Their campaign is in line with our school ethos. It's about shining a light on the organisations that work tirelessly to improve the lives of affected individuals; and celebrates the achievements of those living with a genetic condition.

Please take a look at their Funding in Action to learn more about the lasting impact Jeans for Genes donations make.

Macmillan Coffee Morning 

Through our Christian value of koinonia, we join thousands of people across the UK who raise money for by participating in Macmillan’s World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. Cancer now affects 1 in 2 people and can affect people’s whole lives – their health, money, family and jobs... everything. 

 Children In Need

In the words of St Francis of Assisi, "Start by doing what is nescessary, then by doing what is possible and before you know it you're doing the impossible." 

Children in Need share our vision of believing that every child should have the chance to thrive and be the best they can be. They are committed to being there for children across the UK when they need us the most and work with a wide range of agencies that provide support to children. At St Francis' we know that any child may need support at any time and it is important we have agencies dedicated to supporting children.

Comic Relief

Coming soon...

Earth Day 2024

Updates coming soon...

Earth Day 2023

To raise awareness of threats and dangers posed to wildlife, St Francis worked together to complete a coin trail for Earth Day 2023.  We reused plastic bottles to make money jars and each class brought in some money to see which class could fill the bottle the quickest.  Through the kind donations of our school community, we raised £83 and this money will be used to ensure that each class can adopt an animal.  Through the adoption of the animals, we can locate our animal and track where they have been using online mapping and GPS tracking systems. We look forward to exploring with our animals and seeing where in the world they take us.

Earth Day 2021

As part of Earth Day 2021, we studied endangered animals and the global issues which have put these innocent creatures at risk.  Within a day of enquiry based geographical learning, we developed our knowledge and understanding of key global issues and the effect we have on the future of the animals. Through the generous donations we received, we were able to choose an endangered animal to adopt by sending our donations to WWF. As a school we decided to adopt an elephant as they are one of the most endangered species.  I will continue to keep you all updated.  🐘