An award-winning school is working towards the next stage of an initiative about global issues and the Christian responsibility to tackle them.
St Mary’s Cockerton Church of England Primary, at Cockerton in Darlington, received the bronze award in Christian Aid’s Global Neighbours scheme last winter.
It reflected the work of pupils and staff in both the curriculum and collective worship, in which they focused on worldwide topics, such as climate change, fair trade and recycling.
Deputy headteacher Sarah McTimoney said: “The bronze award was all about encouraging the children to think about the world and seeing ourselves as part of a global community. We looked at how we could make an impact on that as part of our curriculum and collective worship. The children and their families have been very engaged. We are delighted with the progress so far and are proud to see our pupils growing to become global neighbours.”
This involved focusing on different continents of the world, looking at their respective landscapes, music and culture, the people and animals which live there and how they are affected by factors such as climate change. Activities including litter picks were carried out to highlight the importance of recycling and other environment-related matters.
Others areas of exploration included Fair Trade, with the use of coffee, tea and brownies in assemblies. The children were encouraged to look for the Fair Trade logo while out shopping with their families. The school toilets have also been twinned with toilets in Africa, in support of safe sanitation.
Each year group demonstrated what they had learned by hosting class assemblies, attended by parents and families.
The school is now working towards the silver award, with the formation of an extra-curricular group titled ‘Think Global Act Local’. In addition, St Mary’s Cockerton is working alongside the schools platform ‘SuperKind’, which helps to bring citizenship and social action into the classroom, with the tagline ‘Together we can change the world’.
Sarah explained that the work fits into the criteria of the Global Neighbours initiative, which includes teaching and learning, collective worship and spiritual development, pupil participation and community engagement.
It is also steeped in the school’s vision which strives to encourage all members of the school community to live as global neighbours using the words of St Teresa of Avila – ‘Christ has no body on Earth now but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good, yours are the hands with which he is to bless’.
Sarah added: “We encourage our whole community to live out our Christian values as the hands and feet of Jesus. This means looking out on to the world, reflecting on our own part in it, and taking action to make change.”