"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.  Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy." - Proverbs 31:8-9

At The King’s School we:

• Seek wisdom and creativity to become more sustainable
• Inspire hope when we stand up for what we believe in
• Support our local community
• Find endurance to not give up in the face of challenge

By way of a working definition, when using the term ‘courageous advocacy’ we are referring to the act of speaking out against an issue of injustice, often on behalf of those whose voice is not heard. Speaking out, at whatever level this takes place, requires an element (and sometimes a great deal) of courage! Becoming a courageous advocate for change, therefore, must involve being informed about an issue, and it must move beyond simply knowing, to saying and doing.

Educating for courageous advocacy must embody an ethos of action-taking, challenging injustice and becoming agents of change in the transformation of ourselves, our relationships and our communities from the local level to the global.

At King’s, courageous advocacy is at the heart of all we do; we aim to inspire and instil our Christian Values of Love, Compassion and Respect within our whole community.  Life can be challenging at times, and we encourage our pupils to stand up for what they believe in and support others in overcoming the difficulties they may face. 

Courageous advocacy in our school:

• Encourages pupils to think widely and deeply about issues (asking ‘why?’);
• Empowers pupils to understand political processes and their own rights and responsibilities in society;
• Encourages pupils to think of creative solutions to problems (asking ‘what can be done about it?’)
• Equips pupils to identify where power is located and how decisions are made;
• Enables pupils to express themselves confidently and articulately to decision-makers and others

As a school, we are proud to support many charities, both local, national and global, giving our pupils a chance to look at world issues and a voice to discuss them and be a part of the solution.  These charities are voted for by the School and Class Council and children are encouraged to reflect on the needs of others and actively involve themselves in fundraising; these include:

• SPEAR
• REACT
• Children In Need
• Comic relief
• Richmond Food Bank 
• Vineyard 

At King’s, pupils learn about issues of injustice and take action in tackling these problems.

• Pupils lead Collective Worship on issues they want to address - In January and February 2024, the Faith and Prayer Ambassadors led class and Key Stage Worships to highlight the issue of homelessness.  They contacted local charities and food banks and have linked up with 'The Vineyard Community'. Please see the attachment below to find out more! We are very proud of our pupils for running this project so successfully and building such a strong link with the Vineyard charity; photos can be seen in our Faith Newsletter Edition 1.
• FoeFace - a group of children from year 5 are now taking part in an additional pilot project being run by the Vineyard, called FoeFace - this will take place in the summer term. FoeFace is a digital citizenship project that responds to unkind comments and interactions on social media by supporting and educating young people to become peace-making influencers on social media.
• Royal Refill – Eco Monitors have set up an eco-refill shop; they run these stalls termly at school and at local community events.  
• Developing links with our twinned school in the Philippines – Newton Jison Elementary School
• Harvest
• Year 6 pupils attend activities at Strathmore School for children with SEND
• Global Christian Community Week
• Litter picking
• Wildflower planting
• Christmas shoe box appeal - in December 2023, children donated shoe boxes and a group of Faith and Prayer Ambassadors (FPAs) delivered them to a Cecil House care home; they accompanied this by singing Christmas carols to residents during their visit.