At St Mark's, we are learning what it means to intentionally live out our Christian vision and our our FACE Values (Forgiveness, Aspiration, Compassion and Engagement). In doing so, we seek to change the world for the better.

To this end, our children learn to become courageous advocates for justice by providing opportunities for them to understand local, national and global issues and, in turn, respond by finding ways to make a difference.

Once we have decided how we want to respond to issues of injustice, we ask ourselves 3 questions:

 - What are we doing?

 - Why are we doing it?

 - What is the impact?

These 3 questions inform our rationale for taking action which is then communicated to our whole school community so that everyone has this shared understanding.

See below some of the ways we been 'Courageous Advocates'!

What are we doing?

The theme of our day: Funny is Power, Happiness and Laughter!

Come to school something that made us feel happy, have fun together and learn about the impact our money will have on the lives of others

Why are we doing it?

One of our FACE Values is Compassion and our key Bible story for this value is 'The Parable of the Good Samaritan'. We don't want to be people who 'walk on by' those who need out help. We want to join in with the amazing work that is happening to end poverty and make the world a fairer place. 

What's the impact?

£10 buys 40 meals for children and families across the UK

£50 buys a bike for a Health Visitor in Ghana so that they can provide vital health care for hard to reach families.

We raised an amazing £440!! That's 8 bikes and 40 meals! Wow!

What are we doing?

We are getting into the Christmas spirit and wearing our Christmas Jumpers to raise money for Save the Children.

Why are we doing it?

Our FACE Value 'Engage' reminds us to play our part and engage in what is going on in the world around us. We know that Christmas time is a really hard time for many people and, our by wearing our Christmas Jumpers, we are reminded 'spread the wonder of Christmas' and to show generosity to others.

What's the impact?

We donated £150 which paid for 3 health workers to train so they can help provide children and their mothers with life-saving care, such as nutritional advice, anti-malarial mosquito nets and vitamin supplements, to keep them safe from disease. The donations we made will have helped to save a child's life.

What are we doing?

For the last few months we have been collecting donated clothing, bags and shoes for the Rags to Riches Charity.

Why are we doing it?

We are really aware of how much waste we can get rid of so we want to provide opportunities for our school community to use their unwanted clothes and fabric to help others. We can also raise some money for the school too, which goes directly into our 'Charity Pot' to enable us to support other chosen charities through the year.

What's the impact?

We use our unwanted fabric to help others instead of adding to landfill.

On collection, we were presented with a cheque for £111.10 will enable us to support the work of chosen charities throughout the year. Well done to all who donated and a massive thank you too!

Australian Bush Fire Fundraiser, January 2020

On Friday 24th January 2020 the school did a fund raising day to help the Australian animals affected by the bush fires. This had been suggested and organised by Erika (y6), Rebecca (y5), Summer (y5) and Scarlet (y5). Erika had explained it to the whole school earlier in the week.

Everyone donated one pound (or more) to come in non-school uniform; the grand total was....... £313!!

The main surprise was an “I’m A Teacher Get Me Out Of Here” event! Rebecca, Summer and Scarlet made some raffle tickets with teachers names on. The tickets were pulled out of a bag and the chosen teacher had to eat or drink something disgusting. There were mealworms, goats’ eyes, koala saliva, slimy pond water!

Erika had made activity packs for all the classes with an Australia Quiz and animal masks to colour in.

“I felt really sorry for all the animals in Australia, so I wondered if there was something we could do to help. So I decided to do an Australia theme day, and we raised money for them and now I feel great.” Erika stated.

“We’re so glad we organised this. Not only was it fun but we helped animals.” Summer, Scarlet and Rebecca said.

“Your donation maybe small but it can make a huge difference.”

The children truly had an amazing day, thank you for donating your money.

***the food was safe so don’t worry, it came from Mrs Manners kitchen***