Yr 5 and 6 represented St Mary’s by attending the town Laying of the Poppies service. We met with other schools, the Royal British Legion, Mayor Mike Bonfield and The Very Reverend John Mann at St Mary’s Church where they led us in thoughts about Remembrance. From there we paraded to the War Memorial to lay a poppy for each fallen soldier from Swanage.
What an amazing turn-out for the great St Mary’s Bake Off, with children from all classes frantically decorating cakes at playtime and lunch time. Congratulations to the organizers for their money-raising idea and to the proud winners. Many thanks to all who took part and those at home who supported them.
Results of the draw held on 21 October 2019:
Members of our Green Team joined children from other local schools for an Eco-Summit at Stoborough School with workshops and discussions about the many different ways all our children are helping to change the world for the better. There’s a clip on BBC Newsround.
This poem was written by year 6 and read by the school chaplains at church and outside the Co-op on Global Climate Day (see this post)
It starts with one….
It starts with one planet – one life,
With one realisation, one light bulb moment,
With one person who loves and respects,
With one friend, one world leader,
With one conversation, one team, one action
With one wish for a better future.
Preserving one rainforest, planting one tree,
Protecting one orang-utan, releasing one rhino,
Providing one village pump, saving one ice cap,
Taking one stride, sharing one car.
One lifetime together –
Caring for our common home.
A huge thank you to everyone for your generous donations to the local food bank and for supporting CAFOD’s Brighten up Harvest appeal – money raised is currently £160! The school chaplains will be delivering the food to the food bank sometime next week.
On Global Climate Day year 5 and 6 joined the campaign to raise awareness about the damage we are doing to our world.
They made posters and delivered a letter to the Co-Op asking them to consider the quantity of plastic packaging that they use – especially in their fruit and veg and bakery departments. They then walked through the town and along the seafront. Lots of people were interested to look at the posters which highlighted a range of environmental issues. We were delighted to welcome Solveig, the new Curate at the Anglican churches in Swanage, who joined the campaign with us.
After school, year 3 shared top tips flyers, that they had made, for reducing single-use plastic and other ways which one might look after the environment with parents.
Last week, representatives from year 5 and 6 visited St Mary’s and St Mark’s churches to talk to their church committees about how our school is helping to look after the environment and support people in our world who do not have the same opportunities as many of us. They also represented the school at the town Civic Service on Sunday – where they read a poem about the environment written by year 6. A big thank you to them for some excellent public speaking and for giving up their time during the evenings and weekend.
In July our new Pupil Chaplains were commissioned by Bishop Mark at Buckfast Abbey – they had applied for the post and then given presentations to illustrate what qualities they had to make them a good chaplain. We are delighted to welcome them to this important role and of course to the assistant chaplains who will be helping them perform a range of duties in school.
You can find out more about what they will be dong on their notice board by the office and on the school website.
At St Mary’s we try to think about how we treat each other and how we care for our common home. Last term, each class developed a project linked to the Pope’s letter to the world Laudato Sí in which he urges everyone to think carefully about how we are treating the world and the people in it and also to identify what we can do to help.
Many thanks to the parents and other visitors who came to see the children explain what they had been learning about.
