Justice And Responsibility

Justice and Responsibility - theologically rooted

‘What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’ (Micah 6:8).

The desire for us to be courageous advocates is theologically rooted throughout the Bible. Jesus identified with the poor and the marginalised. The understanding of the causes of suffering and the righteous anger this engenders is the first stage of a Christian response. It is the beginning of empathy and understanding. It is the start of action and response. This is why 'Compassion' is one of our School Values.

God longs for a world where ‘justice rolls like a river’ (Amos 5:24) and that is what we too are called towards. This justice thread continues to weave its tapestry through the New Testament as Jesus ushers in God’s kingdom. Jesus welcomed the outsider and spoke up for those who were marginalised and ignored. Again and again, we read of life-changing encounters for individuals on the fringes of society when they met with Jesus: those with disabilities, leprosy sufferers, the Samaritan woman whose behaviour meant she visited the well to draw water when others were not around, dishonest tax collectors seen as traitors to the Romans. These marginalised neighbours were the very people Jesus invited to dinner.

Justice and Responsibility - agents of change

‘There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.’ Desmond Tutu.

At Duloe, we want our children to be agents for change. Our curriculum approach looks to go deeper than supporting charities, but address the underlying injustices and to ask ‘why?’ and ‘what can be done about it?’. We must consider the structural causes of poverty and look at the complexities that cause injustice in order that we might tackle root causes rather than simply soothing symptoms alone.

Our curriculum the curriculum has planned opportunities for children to look beyond themselves, ask ‘big questions’ and think globally about life and develop an understanding of disadvantage, deprivation and the exploitation of the natural world.

Each half-term, the children go through the 'Door' within our 'Windows, Mirrors, Doors' approach to Spirituality and do something to be agents of change and improve the world around them.

This often manifest in one of five ways:

Awareness raising
Community Influencing
Lifestyle Changes
Consumer Power
Engaging with decision makers

Justice and Responsibility - outworking

Partnerships with other bodies has allowed us as a school to impact positively and reciprocally on people's lives. At a micro-level, our strong relationships with our local church community, our fellow schools who are part of Bridge Schools and Truro Diocese has enabled us to learn and be inspired. In one example, this has then manifested into an outworking at a macro-level where these partnerships have combined to take on the challenge of accreditation for 'Christian Aid' as part of their 'Global Neighbours' initiative which is based upon empowering children to be courageous advocates for justice.

Justice and Responsibility - blog

Please see some of the examples below of how children at Duloe have acted as agents of change.

Show racism the red card

Thursday 19th October 2023

All children came to school today dressed in red to support the 'Show Racism the Red Card' initiative. All classes held lessons at an age-appropriate level which highlighted the importance of treating all people with respect and dignity and celebrating people's differences. The older children looked at individual people's stories of racism, including that of former Newcastle footballer Shaka Hislop who was fundamental in starting the 'Show Racism the Red Card' day. In our Collective Worship, we made the link to stopping racism through using our Values of Compassion, Friendship and Respect and theologically rooted this in the scripture that God longs for a world where 'justice rolls like a river' (Amos 5:24).

Harvest Festival and Climate Injustice

This year for our Harvest Festival at St Cuby's we also held an art exhibition based on the painting we produced - with the help of our wonderful local artist Ellie Russell - to raise awareness of Climate Injustice.

Their artwork has since been moved into our school hall and it will also be entered into a national competition called ‘Creative for Climate Justice’ which encourages children to think about the climate crisis and how they can make a difference.

During the sevice, the children made the link between the period of Creationtide, a time when Christian's focus on creation and the responsibility they have for the stewardship of the earth. In the Lord's prayer the words, 'give us this day our daily bread' acknowledge our dependence on God's generosity to suppy our needs. Creationtide is the time to thank him for creation.

The Lord God placed the man in the Garden Of Eden to tend and look after it.
Genesis 2.15

The average person in Great Britain emits twenty-eight times the level of greenhouse gases than the average person in Burkina Faso. Therefore, people in Burkina Faso are experiencing a climate crisis they did not cause.

This is the idea of climate justice. The people who have done the least to cause the climate crisis are the people who are the most affected by it. This makes us question if we are fulfilling our role as stewards of the earth.

Our paintings are our response to this climate injustice. Through these paintings we want to educate people about climate injustice and hope that people will think carefully about their responsibilities. Art and creativity are powerful ways of getting your messages across and having your voices heard.

Throughout history artists have used their creativity to influence leaders and the public alike. Our painting will be entered into an art exhibition called ‘Get Creative for Climate Justice’ in the Houses of Parliament so MPs can see how much we value creation

Creator God,
You have created us, and the world, because you are love.
The world is hurting through climate change.
It hurts us and our global neighbours, but it is hurting the poorest people in our world the most.
God, change our world, our communities, and us with your lovee

We want to journey with you, to create a better future for everyone.
God, to love you is the same as loving your world.
To love you is the same as loving our global neighbours.
Help us to love others, and all of creation, so your world can be what you want it to be.
Amen.

St Cubys Church

Class 1 led our Christmas service this year, retelling the Nativity.

They demonstrated excellent speaking and singing within a packed out St Cubys. This was the culmination of the children's RE lessons for the half-term focusing on the Incarnation.

A huge thank you to all of those who came along to support. The collection for St Cubys reached an amazing £138.

Operation Ocelot

A huge thank you for your support towards Operation Ocelot. Our Rainforest animal dress up day, bake sale by Class 3 and stalls at the Christmas fair, means that Stan and Emily have hit their 148.40 target which will save a piece of rainforest the size of our school grounds. A truly wonderful example of children living all of our Christian Values.

Liskeard & Looe Foodbank

This year as part of our Harvest Festival celebrations, the school collected donation for our local foodbank.

MacMillan Cancer

Class 3 went through the 'door' and made apple cakes, which they sold to raise funds for MacMillan Cancer. The children went apple picking at a local farm, belonging to one of our families and made the cake with the apples they harvested. It total they raised an amazing £62.45

MacMillan Cancer

A truly outstanding team of members of staff, former members of staff and members of our school community, took part in a marathon coastal path walk to raise money for MacMillan Cancer support. Phenomenal perseverance was shown and a considerable amount of money raised for such a good cause.

Penhaligon's Friends

During Class 3's Sports Day, they raised money for Penhaligon's Friends, who are a Cornish charity supporting children with bereavement. They sold lemonade and ice-lollies. Most pleasing however, was that three children within the class then went on and held another fundraising event for the charity as they were inspired about what they had learnt about the charity in their RE lessons.

Ellie's Haven

The staff at Duloe held a 'Quadrathlonish' to raise money for local charity Ellie's Haven. The staff ran marathons, cycled large distances, swam for miles in the sea and carried out a very long coastal path work. We raised on £1,000, which was a stirling effort for our size of a school. The children also got to visit Ellie's Haven and see the provision they have for looking after children less fortunate than themselves.

Liskeard and Looe Foodbank

To raise money for Liskeard and Looe Foodbank, Mr Hannah and a couple of his friends, took on the challenge of running 100 miles. They ran around Siblyback lake 36 hours, in a time just over 22 hours. Lots of children joined for a lap and helped to cheer Mr Hannah on. A huge thank you to the school community for all of their food donations.

Cornwall Wildlife Trust

Two of our children took it upon themselves to raise money for the Cornwall Wildlife Trust by selling homemade lemonade and home-grown vegetables outside of their house. In total they raised a magnificent £125.

Save the Children Christmas Jumper Day

On the 13th December the children wore their Christmas Jumpers to school in exchange for a donation towards the Save the Children charity

Children in Need

For Children in Need this year, the children raised money by having a non-uniform day. There were some fantastic outfits with spots and pyjamas galore! Thank you all for you fantastic generosity towards this wonderful cause.

Poppy Appeal

As well as buying poppies to raise money for the Poppy Appeal, the children wrote poetry from the perspective of a soldier serving in the trenching during WW1. The children read their poems in church and also created a wonderful display of their amazing work.