CAFOD – Creative for Justice
We took part in CAFODs get creative for climate justice campaign. We understand how important it is to care for God’s beautiful earth.
Our school artwork featured in part of the exhibition at the Houses of Parliament. What a fantastic opportunity to show our love.
We are proud to feature in CAFOD’s celebration of 10 Years of Laudato Si’
Joanna Scott, St James’ Catholic Primary School in Hebburn
“CAFOD’s LiveSimply Award gave our school the perfect opportunity to support Pope Francis’ plea in Laudato Si’ to live simply, sustainably and in solidarity with the poor.
To help our families to live more sustainably, we asked them to reduce their carbon footprint -including fewer school drop offs in cars, waste free packing for school lunches and purchasing recycled clothing and school uniforms.
To live more simply we encouraged our families to get out into their local environment and to play games which rely less on technology.
To show our solidarity for the poor we promoted the importance of buying Fairtrade goods, raised funds for CAFOD’s global projects, and supported CAFOD’s efforts to protect small famers.
Our LiveSimply Award is now displayed proudly in our school. However, our mission to look after God’s world and the more vulnerable people who live within in it goes on indefinitely through the continued selfless work of our children, staff, families and wider school community.”
Eco Warriors – Uniform
At St James we know that recycling clothes is crucial for environmental conservation, resource management, and reducing waste. We are delighted to showcase our pre-loved uniform. We will be rotating our rail once every two weeks; this weeks category is sweatshirts and PE kit. The uniform is all freshly washed and pressed, thank you to our lovely Mrs Snaith and our SVP for their help with this. Our uniform rail will be at the front office and anyone is welcome to browse, this is entirely free of charge as part of our eco vision and ongoing love and protection of God’s beautiful earth.
Eco Warriors – Battery Recycling
At St James we are proud to be Eco Warriors! We even have a battery recycling point in the school office.
Battery recycling is essential for protecting our environment and is an easy way to play your part in protecting the planet and showing our ongoing love and respect of God’s earth.. So, next time your battery runs out—recycle it! Let’s make battery recycling a bright spot at St James. Any batteries can be brought into the school office where they will be collected for recycling!
Big Lent Walk
Thank you to all of our children, staff and volunteers who took part in the The Big Lent Walk in aid of CAFOD.
CAFOD are the official aid agency for the Catholic Church in England and Wales. they reach out to people living in hard-to-reach places, in war zones and those who are discriminated against.
CAFOD believe that if one of us is hurt, hungry or abandoned, we all are hurt, hungry and abandoned. No one should be beyond the love and support they need to live a dignified life. Together we raised more than £100 for this very special cause!
Thank you to Mrs Scott and our Mini Vinnies for helping promote this event with their artwork and posters. We would also like to thank all of the Staff and students at St Joseph’s Catholic Academy for accompanying our children on their walk and being so welcoming and kind to us all, it was lovely to visit our Bishop Chadwick Catholic Education Trust family school again. We must also say thank you to all of the folk in Hebburn who tooted their horns and cheered us on throughout our walk! FANTASTIC WORK EVERYONE!
Red Nose Day
On Friday 21st March children were invited to attend school in non-uniform to raise money for Comic Relief.
Comic Relief is there for people who are facing the toughest times of their lives. All year-round, the money donated to Comic Relief works hard to support some incredible projects making a change to people’s lives across the UK and around the world. In fact, over the last few years, Comic Relief funding has helped to support 3 million people.
Together we raised over £100. Every donation makes a very real difference to people in the UK and around the world.
NSPCC Number Day
We were delighted to support NSPCC Number Day by raising money to support their vital services, such as Childline- the helpline that’s always there for children and young people whatever their problem or concern.
The theme for the day was Dress up for Digits and children were invited to come in non-uniform, wearing an item of clothing with a number on it. Together our cake sale raised £223.36 for NSPCC!
LiveSimply Award!
As you already know this year we have been working to achieve CAFOD’s Live Simply Award. This is an award given to schools and parishes in response to Pope Francis’ invitation to ‘Laudato Si’ – to work with generosity and tenderness in protecting God’s world.
We are DELIGHTED to confirm that our school has now achieved the LiveSimply award. Despite the fact that our children are currently split over three sites we have still come together to demonstrate that we can live simply, sustainable and in solidarity with the world’s poorest communities.
This award celebrates what we have already done and inspires us to do more. It helps us to live not just more simply but more fully. LiveSimply is very much a journey which we hope to continue for many years to come.
This is a huge achievement for our school and we hope to celebrate our success by continuing our faith inspired actions. Our commitment to LiveSimply is a vital part of our Catholic life and the overall mission of our school.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us in achieving this award, special thanks to Mrs Scott, our Faith in Action Group our Mini Vinnies and for all those who have donated to our many fundraising events, most recently, CAFOD’s big Lent Walk. The feedback we have received is wonderful “the pupils were outstanding in the clarity and commitment they show to your LiveSimply journey.” We have produced outstanding work and this is a credit to our community.
