What is courageous advocacy?

Courageous advocacy is defined by the Church of England as “the act of speaking out against an issue of injustice, often on behalf of those whose voice is not heard.” At St Peter’s School we encourage and support our children to become courageous advocates who believe that they can become ‘agents of change’ to strive towards a fairer and more joyous world. This means that they champion causes that are special and meaningful to them; connected to matters and concerns personal and close to home for them or linked to wider global issues.

“Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”  1 John 3:18

Courageous Advocacy at St Peter’s Infant School

As a church school our ethos is rooted in our Christian faith, and we seek to encourage an understanding of the meaning and significance of faith in the lives of our children. We believe that our children have unlimited potential, and we strive to play our part in the promises of God for their future.

Our school is built upon our four core values which are founded in our Christian ethos and reflect who we are as a community. These four pillars lie at the heart of all that we do and underpin our work and how we go about achieving our vision.

Respect – Resolve – Aspiration – Well-being

 Children strive for unity and happiness through their collective actions, reflecting a Christian vision of harmonious living. Responsibility and service are core Christian values, guiding children and adults in decision-making and prompting them to serve God and others within the school, local, and global communities.

  “Serve one another in love.” (Galatians 5:13)

In collective worship, RE lessons and other times of reflection and prayer, biblical references are explored to deepen children’s understanding and enable them to live out our Christian vision and values to serve others and enable themselves and others to flourish. Children learn how Jesus demonstrated values of courage, hope, service and love, and are inspired to follow His example. Children and adults learn about the life of Jesus and God’s vision for the world and reflect on the message of the Bible in the context of their own character and actions.

Jesus spoke up for people who were disadvantaged, disempowered and ignored by their communities. Children are encouraged to reflect on Jesus’ actions and teachings to inform their own values, judgements and courageous choices. Other learning experiences, including, PSHE lessons, character education and learning about British values, enables children to grow in character and independence, develop their sense of respect and justice, and grow in courage “to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves” (Proverbs 31:8).

The Church of England also promotes the Christian values of wisdom, community and dignity as key values associated with courageous advocacy. For more insight into the theology behind courageous advocacy, refer to section 1 in the Church of England document, ‘Courageous Advocacy’.

Church of England ‘Courageous Advocacy’

At St Peter’s, aspirational teaching encourages and challenges children to be their best selves, to take pride in their work, and to be positive members of the school and wider communities. Lessons and experiences across the curriculum, opens the children’s eyes to an understanding of the world, their place in it and how they can act to make positive changes for their local and global communities, in an age-appropriate manner. Children learn about their own and other communities and world events and issues. They learn about people in history and present day who have shown courage and compassion whilst acting courageously to make the world a better place. This offers children hope and the tenacity to succeed in their endeavours.

“If the purpose of education is the promotion of life in all its fullness and human flourishing, then this must, by necessity, involve developing young people who can learn to flourish in every aspect of their lives – young people who can work for the flourishing of others and for the planet we share.” (Church of England ‘Courageous Advocacy’)

Courageous Advocacy Projects

The Church of England sets out an example plan of steps that may be pursued by pupils as they plan and take action:

Step 1: Identify a problem or issue you care about

Step 2: Investigate as much as you can so you understand: consider all views

Step 3: Work out what could be done to change or improve it

Step 4: Identify the people with influence to make those changes

Step 5: Consider whose help you might use to make your voice more persuasive

Step 6: Persuade those with power to make changes to do something about it

Encouraged and supported by adults, the children at St Peter’s will engage in a range of strategies to raise awareness, influence the community to understand and perhaps get on board, as well as engaging with key decision makers; for example, the school governors.

An essential part of the courageous advocacy process will be for the children to reflect upon and evaluate the impact of their actions. Throughout the year, children will share their progress and achievements with their courageous advocacy projects in class and with the school community through collective worship, displays, the School Council, school website and newsletters.

Awareness Days and Fundraising

Each academic year, children and adults across the school enthusiastically participate with, and contribute towards, a wide range of charities and awareness days. These include:

  • Comic Relief – Red Nose Day
  • Children in Need
  • Sport Relief
  • The Royal British Legion
  • Downs Syndrome Day

St Peter’s is a Kindness and Social Impact School recognised for the charitable work it does.

Other Courageous Actions

 Courageousness is a quality that is at the heart of all actions and decision-making made by children and adults at St. Peter’s, including governors. Staff act courageously when safeguarding children, supporting families and when modelling our high standards and expectations for relationships and behaviours. As a school we work to ensure that sustainability is considered at all points and embedded in decision making. Along with the usual recycling of resources and careful budget decisions, school developments in recent years have included: changing lighting to low energy; and developing our outside areas and Peace Garden. Children have had a voice in some of these decisions through class feedback, Collective Worship discussions, School Council and Gardening Club.

Where in our curriculum is Courageous Advocacy, Justice and Responsibility is taught, here are some examples:

Whole school:

  • Termly assemblies on what it means to be a courageous advocate.
  • Children who are taking on courageous advocacy justice and responsibility projects talk to children in collective worship
  • School council
  • Harvest festival collective worship and donation station organised for local food bank
  • Poppies
  • Red Nose Day

Reception Class:

  • Learning to be responsible for their belonging and school resources

KS1:

  • PSHE – responsibility and right/wrong actions.
  • RE – children learn to be responsible for environment
  • Literacy – caring for our earth and environment
  • PSHE rights and responsibilities of a child

Opportunities in the community:

Any work from parents on courageous advocacy – fund raising events

Opportunities with St Peter’s Church:

Reverend Ashton talks about the work the church does in the community and why.