Christ Church CE Primary and Nursery Academy
An EXCELLENT Church School in all areas. OUTSTANDING Early Years provision.
Learning to live together, together living to learn. “Learn from Me.” (Matthew 11:29)
For every child to reach their God-given potential in a positive, caring and aspirational environment.
Courageous Advocacy
At Christ Church our vision and creative curriculum combine to inspire the whole community to have an awareness of local, national and international issues. We encourage our children to become courageous advocates for change in our world.
We view this in terms of hope and aspiration, creating a real confidence in children so they feel they can make a real change in their world. To us, ‘Courageous Advocacy’ refers to the act of speaking out against an issue of injustice, often on behalf of those whose voices may not be heard. As a church school, we look to develop character and a concern for those ‘beyond the school gates’. Young people can work for the flourishing of others and for the planet we share.
This takes courage.
Becoming a courageous advocate means being informed about an issue and moving beyond just knowing about it – to saying and doing something. We look to the local level and to the global level, using our school links across the world to help us.
Pupils at Christ Church CE Primary & Nursery Academy are genuinely passionate and recognise their role as ‘agents of change’, firmly believing that they can ‘change the world’...
Pupils have ownership of projects because they have such an important role to play in deciding what projects should be chosen, what action they would like to take to bring about change and in evaluating its effectiveness.
Learning about people from different backgrounds and environments is central to school life and pupils don’t just view courageous advocacy as fundraising, but they run projects which involve other ways of effecting change.
As ‘agents of change’ our aim is that our pupils leave our school knowing that wherever they go, they can continue to make a difference to the lives of those around them and for a better world.
As a school, we help enable social action, from small cake sales raising funds for charities close to the heart of children and families, to supporting a national charities, to raising awareness of global issues. Previously, children in Eco Club planned and led an impressive worship about the rainforest animals who were endangered due to deforestation. The key stages then raised funds in a variety of different ways to ‘adopt’ an animal and learnt facts about them. Children across the school were able to share their concerns and explain what the World Wildlife Fund was doing to help the animals.
In the past, pupils had a concern for the declining bee population and were motivated to grow bee-friendly plants and to write to the local councillor to grow more wildflowers on roadsides. They received a letter back!
Older pupils linked their environmental concerns with their global knowledge, leading them to recycle plastic bottles into an igloo on the playground to raise awareness of the issue around plastic recycling and re-using plastics here and in Sierra Leone at our link school (our staff returned from a visit worried about the lack of plastic recycling there).
We are working currently for our Eco-Schools bronze award to help recognise our achievements.
Feedback from parents has been that our children even carry out beach clean-ups when on holiday and care for wildlife locally (one child took an injured pigeon to the local vet).
In Year 5, we want our pupils to be involved in decision-making and have a sense of ownership and understanding of why they are taking a particular action. They are encouraged to think critically and how they can help address the causes and symptoms of a particular situation.
In Year 6, children work towards their Blue T-Shirt by completing three tasks over the year: carrying out positive for the community, being awarded over 400 Class Dojo points and leading a session/event for the whole school.
Pupils throughout our school feel confident in challenging issues concerning our school, such as: re-organising the way lunchtimes are run, to re-designing the playgrounds into zones, to suggesting new ways to present worships, to organising recycling. School Council representatives share the views of each class regularly.
ECO Club
Charitable Work
We support a range of charities throughout the school year. These are selected by the children and staff to ensure there is an increased awareness of collective responsibility, compassion and service to others.
We regularly support the work of the Hastings Food Bank who provide a vital service to vulnerable families in our local area, including members of our school family. We are a collection point for donations of food throughout the year and we also run our own emergency food bank.
We participate in National Charity Days to raise funds and acknowledge important causes…
