We might not have been on Strike for Climate Change Action on Friday but we certainly did focus on some key environmental themes with the intention of making a big difference and a little bit of 'noise'!
I was so proud to see our young children demonstrating their passion for protecting their future and using their voices to powerfully declare a change that is required across the nation and across the generations. No doubt they came home with some very clear messages for other family members!
For the staff, our day began our our regular staff briefing with a prayer about the ark:
I kept coming back to the powerful words of this prayer throughout the day - it was wonderful to see and hear our children committed to building that 'ark' through their words and actions. Our young people are definitely the heralds of a new rainbow covenant and we all need to take their lead!
We were delighted to have received a letter from Bishop Paul McAleenan encouraging us in our efforts for the day. A copy was left on the prayer table in each class and was opened and shared at the start of the day in every class:
Each class spent some time with the prayer focus in the KS2 hall. Here some classes focused on the story of creation, thinking about themes of stewardship whilst others focused on the Noah narrative, thinking about protection of creatures and saving the planet.
It was great to see some of our families visiting our exciting Red Shed Project. Sue was able to explain to visitors how volunteers at the Red Shed spend time working with members of the community who are living with dementia whilst also supporting some key environmental and stewardship aims.
We were delighted to have received a letter from Bishop Paul McAleenan encouraging us in our efforts for the day. A copy was left on the prayer table in each class and was opened and shared at the start of the day in every class:
Each class spent some time with the prayer focus in the KS2 hall. Here some classes focused on the story of creation, thinking about themes of stewardship whilst others focused on the Noah narrative, thinking about protection of creatures and saving the planet.
The children were all encouraged to reflect upon 'Laudato Si', Pope Francis' encyclical on care for the environment. We used Cafod's fantastic animation of this in the form of a an animated letter from Pope Francis. You can watch the whole clip here:
Even our youngest children were engaged watching it:
A huge banner stretched the length of the hall, containing the words from Pope Francis' Laudato Si letter. Each class spent some time reflecting on what this meant for them. Whilst our older children wrote their own environmental pledges here, some of our youngest pupils drew items of God's creation that they were thankful for and wanted to protect. As an observer, these were moments of beautiful and intense connection for our children, It was an absolute pleasure to witness!
Before leaving the hall, each child threaded a leaf that they had found in the grounds onto a collection of twigs. Each leaf represented an action that an individual pledged to make in order to improve our stewardship of the environment. One action may seem small, but together our small actions over time can make a huge difference.
The usual curriculum in each class was suspended for the day as each class followed an environmental theme of their choosing, with the aim of inspiring a commitment to small everyday changes that could impact on climate change. Some classes reduced their energy consumption, refraining from making use of the lights and avoiding unnecessary use of the interactive whiteboard. Others using paper, made a commitment to designing their posters on recycled paper only.
Years 2 and 5, accompanied by many parents, started their day with a walk around our beautiful neighbouring Fairlands Lakes. Here they were able to give thanks for the beauty of our local environment and think about what each of them could do to be good stewards of this wonderful space. I suppose that you could call it a peaceful and reflective Climate Change march!
Some classes, inspired by Andrew Goldsworthy, produced natural art using items collected from the environment with some stunning results:
The day was filled with all sorts of activities, from researching and sharing our feelings about climate change ...
... to other activities that aimed to support and encourage the wildlife, ensuring that we are the best stewards of creation that we could possibly be ...
In other classes there was a definite theme of upcycling and recycling:
Watch out for a fantastic mosaic of bottle tops with a key environmental message from Year 1 - they are keeping it under cover until it is ready to be revealed to all!
After school it was great to join with many families to share the message of what we had learnt in one busy day. We hope you enjoyed sharing the important message with us?
The photos on this blog are just a small amount of the work completed over the course of our special action day. What a busy day - much of what we have started will be continued over the coming weeks as we revisit these important themes.
It was great to hear that a number of families had made a real effort on Friday to reduce plastic packaging in packed lunches. That's brilliant news!!!
Our work on Friday was just the start ... a marking point in the ground to show that we mean business! I know that the School Parliament will be keen to discuss how we can move this project forward. I have also put it on the agenda for Monday's Senior Leadership Team, Wednesday's Staff Meeting, Friday's staff briefing and the next Full Governing Body Meeting. Last week the PSA discussed how they would support our project by thinking about the impact of disposable plastics when buying stock to sell at PSA events. Together we can make a real difference so that the future is brighter. Thank you for all that you have done to support this important initiative.