Gold Global Neighbours Award Retained!

During January 2023, the School was visited by an assessor from Christian Aid's Global Neighbours team to review the school's continuing commitment to being courageous advocates for change towards a world without injustice and inequality. St Luke's retained the Gold Award, following up the first visit in March 2019 when the school also achieved the highest possible grading of GOLD - only the second school in the whole country to achieve this! This is a tremendous achievement which has been made possible by the way in which the children have responded to opportunities given to them within the school curriculum.

The report commented that "Global Neighbours is deeply embedded and continues to inform all aspects of this school" and that the school "believe it is essential for the development of pupils’ lives and enabling them to be confident advocates for change, willing to speak out against injustice".

The children demonstrated their understanding that Global Neighbours is "about everyone" and "‘showing kindness to others through our words and actions".

The March 2019 report had previously commented that "upon entering St. Luke’s Primary School, you are quickly aware that this is a school which places support for environmental issues and finding ways to tackle injustice and inequality very much at the centre of what they do" and that "the interest and enthusiasm of pupils and teachers in relation to local, national and global issues is clear, both in and out of the classroom". This was reflected in the children's comments that “friendship is just as important as money because it makes people feel that they matter” and that although "we can’t help everyone and every situation, it’s important that we help to look after our world for us and our children and their children.”

Read below both the assessor's report in full.

Global Neighbours across the Curriculum

As part of our commitment to ensure that all children are able to develop their critical thinking skills about the world around them and to discover the interdependence of the world around us and how we can all have an impact, making a positive difference, St Luke's curriculum ensures that all children have opportunities to think about their role as Global Neighbours across all aspects of the curriculum.

Water for Africa

Thank you to everyone who supported our initiative to raise money for projects run by 'Water for Africa' by wearing something blue or watery. We managed to raise £130 which was then increased when the children decided that the collection from our Harvest Service should also support the same cause.

Toilet Twinning

At St Luke's, we have been thinking about how we can help people around the world who do not have access to toilets and clean water and decided that we would raise money by being 'Blue for Loo'. By making a donation to 'Toilet Twinning', we were able to come into school wearing blue. We managed to raise £224.57 to help other communities to build toilets. 

Global Neighbours Action Through Recycling

Our Eco-team have placed boxes in the Office and the Music Room so that people can bring in empty crisp packets. Go to our Eco-team page for more details. We also collect batteries for recycling.

Our School Council visited Tesco to learn more about what they are doing to tackle waste packaging as well as the decisions that shoppers can make. The School Council also arranged to recycle shoes by sending second-hand pairs via 'Sal's Shoes' to those children across the world who do not have shoes, and also recycled clothes using 'Recycle with Michael'.

Learn more by visiting our School Council page!

Cyclone Idai

More than 2 million people were affected by Cyclone Idai in Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Initially 480 people were killed and an estimated 400,000 lost their homes. These devastating tolls rose and those affected were in desperate need of food, water, clothing, shelter and medicine.

Aware of what was happening around the world, children wanted to respond quickly and to help Christian Aid in their work, thanks to their efforts and generous donations, £80 was raised.

Our Eco Warriors

Our KS1 Eco-Warriors ensure that in our school energy is not being wasted unnecessarily. Each day, different children in KS1 make sure that lights and whiteboards are not being left on when classrooms are empty. They have also been checking that each class has a recycling bin and that it is being used correctly. Finally, they are making sure that if the heating is on, windows are not being left open. To find out more about are eco work, visit our Eco Team page.

Count Your Blessings

Reflecting our core value of thankfulness, we have used Christian Aid's, 'Count Your Blessings' resources during Lent to reflect on all those things in our lives which we sometimes forget to be thankful for. At the same time, we have thought of others in the world who our less fortunate and we have considered how, as Global Neighbours, we can help others to reduce inequality in our world. The poster below can be downloaded so that you can also take time at home to think about our place in the world and our interdependence with others.

Orangutan Appeal UK

Year 5 worked hard to help protect orangutans. As well as leading a whole school presentation on the dangers that palm oil creates, they raised money to adopt orang-utans. Their donation went towards supporting the Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre to care for those orangutans who have already been affected. Well done, Year 5!

Cake Sale in aid of protecting orang-utans

Some of our Year 5 children raised £180 from their cake sale. This money went towards helping those orang-utans whose habitat is threatened by deforestation caused by the need to produce palm oil. This follows on from the presentation they did to the school about the plight of orangutans around the world.

Global Warming

Key Stage 1 have been learning about the impact of global warming and what they can do to help. In their collective worship, children discussed what might happen to plants if our planet continues to keep getting warmer. In lessons, Year R looked at what happens to ice when it gets warm and what this might mean for the ice caps and for the animals that live there. Year 2 had an Arctic explorer visit and talk to them. He spoke about how scientists are checking the impact on the North Pole caused by global warming.

Courageous Advocacy

Being a good global neighbour is more than just feeling sorry for people who are suffering from misfortune - it is about making a difference to their lives. One way this can be done is through courageous advocacy. The children have been developing their advocacy skills by directly engaging with decision-makers across a range of issues.

Read below the replies that we have received from the following:

• Tesco were contacted about the dangers of smoking
• Hampshire County Council were written to about the danger to animals of people feeding the New Forest animals
• Two letters were written to the Prime Minister, Theresa May: one about deforestation and renewable energy, and the other about pollution.

The School Council have been thinking about lots of ways to encourage children throughout the school to be active Global Neighbours. The Council looked at different schemes for collecting unwanted clothes and decided that the Salvation Army's 'Recycle with Michael' was an ideal charity to support. Members of the School Council led a whole school collective worship to kick-start the project. See below for their Power Point. To find out more about the work of the School Council, follow the link below.

Christmas Service - The Gift To Unite Mankind - December 2018

This Christmas Service in 2018 considered what we can learn about being good Global Neighbours from the Christmas story. We thought about how the last innkeeper was willing to help others in need when it might have been easier to ignore rather than to help, and how the three men from the East followed God's Word to oppose cruelty, unfairness and selfishness by being courageous in the advocacy of justice and equality, just as Jesus also did throughout his life on Earth.

The School Council decided that the collection from the Christmas Service should go to the World Wildlife Fund.

Read below the Christmas Prayers that the children wrote.

As a school, we have always tried to promote an ‘international mindedness’, encouraging children to reflect on our place in the world. By taking part in the Global Neighbours scheme run by Christian Aid, we want to help everyone in our school family become courageous advocates for the common good, locally and globally and in doing so, encourage a deeper understanding of global injustice and how we can all become active global citizens.

In our Harvest Service, we shared how Christian Aid has helped lots of people around the world.

Children at St Luke's decided that the collection of £187.72 from the Harvest Service should go towards a project supported by Christian Aid: helping crab farmers in Bangladesh.

In July 2018, the School Council planned and led a whole school Collective Worship encouraging us all to take responsibility for global issues, inspiring us to take action to help others. They told us all about the Christian Aid Global Neighbours Scheme. Their powerpoint is below.