St Peter's Church of England Primary School

Courageous Advocates

Courageous Advocacy is paramount in our school – it is a vital part of our vision (future hope and aspirations) and theological rooting – encouraging and supporting one another.

Courageous advocacy is the act of speaking up for what is right and fair, even when it might be difficult or scary. It involves being informed about an issue, taking action, and challenging injustice. Courageous advocates can help transform their communities, relationships, and themselves.

At St Peter’s, we provide a wealth of opportunities for children to be courageous advocates:

Pupil Voice groups: School Council, Wellbeing Council, Worship Crew, Eco-Committee, pupil leadership – this continuously promotes to children that their voice matters and that they can make a difference
Pupil voice groups are established during Democracy week, children don’t just get told about democracy – they experience it.
Anti-bullying week and the development of a pupil friendly anti-bullying policy – we teach our children continuously to stand up against bullying and tell an adult.
Annual pupil voice conferences bring all pupil voice groups together, we discuss progress made, big themes and plan future projects together (such as charity events)
The school takes part in National Charity events annually: Children in Need, Comic Relief, Sports relief, Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day
Annually, we set the St Peter’s Challenge – our own Duke of Edinburgh style award. Children complete up to 12 challenges in their local community that aims to take action around our locality. During collective worship, we heard the story of creation and why it is so important to look after our planet. We then explored pollution, damage to our planet and ways to take action and help. Many children took part in litter picking and some travelled to a near-by beach to pick up rubbish –preventing it from ending up at sea.
In May 2024, we held a mini-school marathon. Children were sponsored to raise money for Braintree foodbank. We raised £1,297!
Our curriculum inspires children to become Courageous Advocate – we learn about our planet and ways to promote sustainability in geography. We learn about poverty and injustice in PSHE – and how to take action. We learn about inspirational individuals who may have been young/ small but had a mighty impact on the world around them e.g. Greta Thunberg
Our Year 2 children complete the Young Leaders Award and in previous years have put together welcome packs for Ukrainian visitors and created our Forest school area as a community project.