The children in Year 2 have chosen to support their local community by gardening in the Therapeutic Garden, set in the grounds of St Mary's Church. By cleaning, sweeping and planting bulbs and flowers, the children will help to create and maintain a space of peace and reflection for all members of our community to enjoy.
The children in Year 5 have chosen to promote recycling at St Mary's as their courageous advocacy project. They have ensured that each class have a recycling container and each week they collect all of the school's recycling and take it to the bins.
Christmas is a time for thinking about other people and St. Mary's were blessed in many ways to have others thinking of those less fortunate.
Through our long standing contact with Rev Charles and the charity Projectfivek the staff at a branch of Nandos delivered special bags filled with treats and gifts for some of our children. In addition the Dinnertimeclub a charity based in Forest Hill delivered Christmas grocery goodies for some of our families which had been donated by Sainsburys. We are very grateful for the generosity and kindness of all these individuals and organisations who have helped to make the lives of our families that little bit brighter and have really lived the values of love and responsibility to their local community. Our Reception class parents were invited to a couple of sessions where we talked about positive parenting, setting boundaries and creating the best opportunity for children to learn. We also learnt about our own parenting styles and shared good practice. What an amazing group of parents - honest, open and a good sense of humour which always helps when you are on the rollercoaster journey that is parenting!
If you are interested in parenting classes you can ask Mrs Tildesley or refer yourself via this link https://www.lewishamcfc.org.uk/parenting/ Following a visit from our School Council, we received this message of thanks:
"St Mary's Primary were one of the first beneficiaries of this project...before we even had a name. They along with a dozen other schools and 40+ other care homes/community groups/homeless projects and others besides shared in the 115,000+ innocent drinks, 30,000+ Ivy restaurant meals and many tonnes of fresh fruit and veg that were channelled via this project the first months of the pandemic. They were an absolute joy to work with. More importantly, seeing the teaching team fight so hard to put meal packs together for their kids was a great source of energy and inspiration for this project...and a good part of the reason why we are here today. With all that in mind, it was a real joy (after 3 long days of being open) to have the lovely children from St Mary's school council come up to the hub with a big thank you note (and some treats for the volunteers). We couldn't wish for better neighbours!" The children have been learning about refugees in assembly by looking at Amal and her journey from the Turkish/Syrian border. When asked how best we could welcome Amal if she were to come to our school we had various responses including "throw a party" and "make some bunting".
So we decided to make some bunting for the hall and as you can see we had some beautiful designs! Shyla's message was particularly moving; Amal you are wonderful and beautiful and may you live in peace. What better message could you give to a child seeking refuge? The bunting looks beautiful in the hall and reminds us all that we should be shining examples of welcome and love to anyone coming to our community of St. Mary's. Amal the giant walking puppet walked all the way from the Syrian/Turkish border across 8000km and 8 countries and finally arrived in the UK. Year 5 were on Deptford High Street to give her a very warm and special welcome along with lots of other children from Lewisham schools! As Lewisham's first School of Sanctuary St. Mary's had a very special part to play and accompanied Amal with giant bunting down the high street to Giffin Square where a huge poster was hanging which had been created by Years 5 and 6. Ayana then gave Amal a giant Paddington sticker. Remember Paddington Bear was also a refugee like Amal!
Year 5 also spoke with the Mayor of Lewisham Damian Egan and Councillor Kevin Bonavia who has visited our school before. We even featured on BBC news that night! Year 5 were a real credit to the school and lots of people complimented them on their brilliant behaviour and good manners during what was a very busy celebration. It was an amazing day and we are grateful to our governors and parents who accompanied us on the trip! The School Council visited Lewisham Donation Hub with a card and chocolates to thank all the volunteers for their amazing work!
The Donation Hub provides clothing, food furniture, household goods and other essential items for people in need. They are always happy to accept donations of good quality items - check their Facebook page for items required - or if you need items yourself you can attend in person every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Did you know that there is a fabulous museum which is free in the middle of Lewisham Shopping Centre? It's called the Migration Museum and it's right next two the two pieces of stone which come from the Berlin Wall.
Year 5 and Year 6 visited the museum and found out all sorts of interesting facts about migrants and immigrants. There were letters and postcards to read based on real people's experiences, a kitchen where people shared their love of food and recipes from many different countries and a classroom where children read poems composed by young people coming to the UK and having to start school. The children played a "step forward" game which showed how we all come from many different places across the world for various different reasons and that movement or migration is a common factor for us all. As a School of Sanctuary we are especially sensitive to the needs of people who may be escaping war or violence and we talked about what sanctuary means for people. Finally all the children broke up into groups and worked on designing letters that formed a giant poster to welcome Amal the walking puppet when she came to Deptford. It was a great trip and all families are welcome to visit the Museum - it is free of charge to enter and open Wednesday to Sunday each week. Go and take a look! You may have noticed this new logo on our letterhead and website. It was awarded for all the work that St. Mary's does with pupils, staff and parents to be a real community of welcome, inclusion and force for change with campaigns such as lowering British Citizenship fees for children, ending NRPF and campaigning against NHS migrant charging.
We are the first school in Lewisham to be given this award and we hope to celebrate this with the whole school community at a special event in September! You can read more about us here; https://schools.cityofsanctuary.org/2021/06/14/st-marys-school-in-lewisham-becomes-a-school-of-sanctuary |
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May 2024
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