Courageous Advocates
As Benedict Biscop C.E. Academy, Justice and Hope are seen as a Core School Christian Values. We believe that in order to achieve our school vision, ‘With God, all things are possible’, that we should develop not just our pupils academically but spiritually to become action global citizens with a profound sense of social action and a hope that they can make a positive difference.
As a school we look at a range of local and global issues within our curriculum, linking our learning with the work of charities, the UN Rights of a Child and the Global Sustainability Goals. Developing our pupils as courageous advocates, we aim to help them to see that they are able to make a change and that collectively, as a community, we are stronger.
Our learning and actions have led to the school becoming a nationally recognised Rights Respecting School and to the successful achievement of the Christian Aid Global Neighbours accreditation.
‘Benedict Biscop’s vision, ethos and aims are central to their work on global citizenship,
providing a firm foundation to embed global citizenship in many areas of school life.’ Global Neighbours Feedback
‘The use of ‘big questions’ gave pupils time to reflect upon taking social action which would make a difference, developing skills to enable them to become courageous advocates of the future.’ Global Neighbours Feedback
‘Pupil voice is strong in school and children know that change can and has happened as a result of their voice.’ Rights Respecting Award Feedback
Following a publicised medical emergency, our football team were moved to encourage our Rights Knights to support our local community to get a defibrillator. Linking with the Red Sky Foundation, a charity local to Sunderland, the pupils and community were able to fundraise enough to install a defibrillator outside the school gates. On further hearing about the work of the charity and it’s aim to ensure that all schools and public spaces have a life saving defibrillator, our pupils were keen to continue to support the charity and help them work towards this goal. The school have continued to support the charity for the last two years and the charity have also supported the school to provide important first aid training for our pupils.
On learning about the impact of humans on our environment, our pupils were keen to help look after our school environment. Our Rights Knights were also motivated to establish class ‘Circuit Breakers’, pupils who ensure that lights and technology are turned off when not in use, helping to save energy. As part of our Trust development, our Pupil Parliament representatives visited a local wind farm to find out more about sustainable energy. They also visited the Houses of Parliament – learning about democracy.
On learning about shortages at our local foodbank, pupils were motivated to collect donations.
