Courageous Advocacy
Speaking Up, Taking Action, Making a Difference
At High Hurstwood CofE Primary School, we believe that children and young people are integral to building a fairer and more sustainable world for everyone. Through Courageous Advocacy, we equip our pupils with the skills, confidence, and opportunities they need to speak up and take action on issues of justice.
Courageous Advocacy is an integral part of the Church of England's vision for education, and it sits at the heart of our Christian ethos.
Our Approach to Courageous Advocacy
We are courageous advocates for change at three levels:
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Locally: Supporting our immediate community through initiatives like our Crowborough Foodbank collections and understanding the needs of people around us.
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Nationally: Raising awareness and funds for charities that make a difference across the UK, and understanding issues affecting people in our country.
- Globally: Learning about worldwide challenges and taking action to support those in need across the world.
Our Core Beliefs
We believe that:
- Every person is worth spending time with – we value all people and their stories
- People need time to grow – change and development take patience and support
- People need loving attention – care, compassion and kindness make a real difference
Developing Skills for Advocacy
Through our curriculum and school life, children develop:
- Confidence to speak up about issues that matter
- Critical thinking to understand complex problems
- Empathy to see the world from others' perspectives
- Practical skills to take meaningful action
How We Put This Into Practice?
Our pupils are learning to become courageous advocates through:
Raising awareness and understanding
The pupils enjoy researching about inspiring figures who have fought for justice (e.g., Martin Luther King Jr., Jane Goodall) as part of their curriculum learning. They also enjoy learning about and raising awareness for environmental issues, for example Climate Change: the pupils in Eagle Class have enjoyed learning about this topic as part of their learning linked to the Polar Regions. This another example of how pupils are raising awareness for issues and have shared their learning with the school through displays and class assemblies. Every year at our Harvest Festival, we take dontations from the school community for the Crowborough Foodbank and also during the Church service there is a monetary collection, we use this collection to purchase remaining items from Crowborough Foobank's list with some of our School Councillers. We then take these items and ones purchased with the School Councillers into the Foodbank, this gives a great insight to the pupils of where this food goes.
FUNDRAISING AND COMMUNITY EVENTS
Children explore why different charities exist, what issues they address, and how our support can make a tangible difference to people's lives. Through assemblies, fundraising events, and class discussions, pupils develop empathy and understanding of the challenges others face. Children sing at local Nursing homes to give pack something to the community. The school also runs the children's tent at the annual High Hurstwood Village fete alongside our Friends of High Hurstwood, this is giving something back and part of the something bigger with our village community. We also hae close links with our own Friends of High Hurstwood fundrasing group that run fundraising and community events such as our annual family sponsored walk around the village, pancake flip challenge on Shrove Tuesday and Chirstmas fete.
SChool based initiatives
Our School Learning Council over the last few years have been looking into becoming an Eco-Friendly and Sustainable School. This because we are committed to caring for God's creation. Our pupils learn about environmental issues and take practical action to make our school more sustainable. This includes reducing waste, saving energy, and understanding our responsibility to protect the planet for future generations. We also have led projects to improve prayer in the school by using pupil voice to generate a new school prayer and improve our prayer spaces in and out of the classrooms, such as in the main corridor, school house garden and in the classrooms. We have also been working at growing leadership opportunities within the school, our Year 6 pupils continue to be buddies to Reception pupils, organise Playground activities at lunchtimes, run a Book club one lunchtime a week and do day to day jobs such as setup collective worship, tidy communal rooms and carry out various roles during Church Services. Our Year 5 pupils are Collective Worship Leaders running Collective Worship atleast once a month, Sports Leaders running intra school events and also our Reading Buddies to Year 1/2 pupils.
Charities We've Supported
Over the past two academic years, our school community has raised awareness and funds for:
- Crowborough Foodbank – supporting local families facing food poverty in the Crowborough area (locally)
- Rasystede Animal charity - animal welfare charity that rescues and rehatibilites a variety of animals before rehoming them in Sussex (locally)
- Children in Need – the money goes to a wide range of initatives to support disadvantaged children across the UK (nationally)
- NSPCC – protecting children from abuse and neglect in the UK (nationally)
- Cancer Research UK – helping research and support people living with cancer in the UK (nationally)
- Save the Children – helping vulnerable children worldwide (globally)
- Comic Relief – tackling poverty and injustice worldwire (globally)
Making a Lasting Impact
Through Courageous Advocacy, our children are not just learning about justice and compassion – actively living out these values. They are discovering that even small actions can make a big difference, and that their voices matter in creating positive change in the world.
As they grow, we hope they will continue to be courageous advocates, standing up for what is right and making the world a better place for all.