Courageous Advocacy - We can make a Difference!

Proverbs 31:8 Good News Translation (GNT) of the Bible

"Speak up for people who cannot speak for themselves.  Protect the right of all who are helpless"

PCSO Karen and PCSO Sally came to visit the mini police in Helvellyn class.

They talked to our children about how to stay safe during Bonfire Night, including: how to hold a sparkler safely, following the rules at organised firework events, how to keep safe when having fireworks at home and the laws around fireworks. 

The mini police had to take lots of notes during Karen's session as they will be presenting their own Bonfire Night safety talk to the rest of the school after half term.

We also had a talk about Halloween night safety. Here are the mini-police's top tips for having a safe Halloween:

1. If you are wearing a dark costume at night keep to the lit pavements so cars and people can see you.
2. Go trick or treating with a grown-up or trusted older sibling.
3. Stay together in a group.
4. Be respectful of people with signs in their windows asking for no trick or treaters.
5. Be mindful of elderly people when knocking on their doors.

The Pilgrimage for Nature passed through Shap this week (wb 04.10.21)!

It is a collective walk from London to the climate conference in Glasgow taking place in November this year. They will be collecting stories, dreams and hopes from people they meet along the way, including us here at Shap CE School!

Amongst the walkers are theatre makers and artists who are curating their pilgrimage as an extended piece of promenade theatre that will result in a final performance presented at The 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow.

We invited the pilgrims into school to do an assembly with Blencathra and Helvellyn children. They shared their journey with our children, telling them how they have been 'listening to the land' enroute - listening to flora and fauna, including us humans!

I was incredibly proud of our children's contributions to the discussions, sharing their concerns, ranging from worries about litter and traffic pollution, to specific concerns about squirrels, and plastic used around trees!

The pilgrims collected messages from our children that they will take to the Climate Change Conference - the messages that the children relayed were thoughtful, considerate and insightful, here's hoping they will make a difference!

We took the opportunity to perform our school anthem to our visitors, and they in turn taught us a Danish folksong about a robin - I know that the next time our children see a robin, they will surely be reminded of our visitors!

We supported Comic relief 2021!

We paid £1 to dress as a superhero - a real life hero, or a cartoon / book hero!  Some children even created their own heroes!

The children learned how their 'golden £' supported people in the UK and internationally.  Supporting mental wellbeing, and children around the world are issues that our children are particularly interested in, and themes our children can relate well to.

Some of our LKS2 children were concerned about the potential pollution that may result of increased PPE usage.

Willow, Mack and Julie wrote to our Local MP Dr. Hudson!  they were delighted to get a response from him, and an invite to a Zoom 'Question and Answer' session!

Blencathra class came up with many thoughtful questions about the PPE issue, but also many other environmental issues too.

We were proud to get a mention in the local newspaper too!

Rather than send Christmas cards, we offer families the option of donating to charities, in 2019 we adopted a leopard via WWF!  This year, 2020 we decided to continue our relationship with The Eden Foodbank, but focussing on the children who use their service!  So, in lieu of Christmas cards, we collected children’s selection boxes!

We were delighted to collect 65 selection boxes!  A huge thank you to our little helper , and his mum who delivered our goodies to the Foodbank at Appleby!

During friendship week, we focussed on the ‘Living in Harmony within our Community’ elements of our Christian Vision.  We identified 4 issues within our community as foci for social action.  These issues were littering, dog poo, speeding and parking.  In family groups, the children designed and created signs made of slate to encourage safe driving and parking, and correct disposal of litter and dog poo.  Using maps if the village, Kidsty Pike’ children plotted where to place the signs, and distributed them in appropriate places around the village. 

We’ve had lots of positive feedback from people within the community, thanking us for our efforts to improve our village.

School Councillors were concerned about the amount of paper used in the process of sharing Christmas cards. As an alternative, they suggested tat we had a collection in lieu of Christmas cards. As we have been inspired by David Attenborough’s ‘Seven Worlds, One Planet’ it was agreed we’d collect for WWF.  We raised enough to allow us to adopt an animal, and after researching the vulnerabilities of a variety of animals, we had a vote, and the adoption winner was....

THE AMUR LEOPARD!

we are proud to have adopted the Amur Leopard as they are classified as ‘ critically endangered’