Ethos and Inclusion

Raising Money For Children in Need

On 10th October we held our Harvest Festival in school. We were lucky enough to have lots of donations of food.

The Ethos and Inclusion team helped to sort the food and were able to make up lots of food parcels to support families who may be struggling. Some of the children then took the remaining food to the local food bank 'The Lalley Centre'.

The Lalley Centre helps lots of people in the community who are struggling and may not have enough food.

In our role as Ethos and Inclusion team, our first challenge was to help plan school’s first ever International Day of Peace.

But where did International Day of Peace come from?

The United Nations organisation was formed after the Second World War ended.

The world was in a mess. Neighbouring countries could no longer trust one another and there was no peace.

In 1945, representatives from 51 countries met in San Francisco, USA. The representatives signed an important document with four very important agreements within it.

• To maintain international peace and security.
• To develop friendly relations among nations
  based on respect for equal rights.
• To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems
• To be a centre for harmonising the actions of nations
  in the attainment of these goals.

Basically, they were all agreeing to seek and maintain peace around the world

This special day was agreed upon in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly with the first official International Day of Peace happening on the 21^st of September 1982. It is sometimes called ‘World Peace Day’.

The purpose of International Day of Peace is to:

‘provide a globally-shared date for all humanity to commit to peace above all differences and to contribute to building a culture of peace.’

This year marked the 25^th anniversary of the UN’s adoption of the Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace.

The theme reinforced the recognition that peace is not just the absence of hostilities but requires ongoing positive discussions. This means potential conflicts are solved amicably and with mutual understanding and cooperation.

On 21st September, the UN called for us to act for peace around the globe. They wanted us to fight unfairness, protect human rights and act on climate change.

Article 19 - Every child has the right to be safe

We hosted our Day of Peace on Friday 20^th September (we’re not in school on Saturdays!!)

It was an amazing day!

Everyone came to school dressed in clothes that represented them.

We decorated stones for our peace garden and designed bunting for it too.

We designed an ‘around the world’ menu and had the tastiest lunch!

We released some birds of peace too!

In the afternoon, our parents and carers were invited into school to learn and celebrate with us.

It was a HUGE success and we can’t wait to do it all again next year.

Take a look at our peace garden.  It’s impressive isn’t it?  We love it and are very proud of it – an outdoor space where we can go and be still and quiet, where we can think, and be alone if we want.

We've now started thinking about Friendship Week and how we can ensure that's a success too.  Watch this space for more info...