Milford on Sea CE Primary is one of only two schools in the country to receive a Global Neighbours Gold Award for the second time and has held an all school celebration to mark the remarkable achievement.
The award scheme, run by Christian Aid and the Church of England, encourages schools to think about global citizenship, to increase pupils’ understanding of the causes of poverty and injustice, as well as engaging and empowering pupils to act as agents of change in the world.
The school gained the award back in 2021 but has been re-accredited thanks to the hard work of staff and pupils.
Headteacher Kate Crawford said, “It’s so important to me because of the work that the whole community, the staff, the children, and all of our volunteers put into making it happen because it’s been a long journey. It’s probably been eight years of embedding our values, making our curriculum global, and to have maintained it, which takes a lot of hard work.”
Bishop Geoff Annas, Honorary Assistant Bishop in the Diocese of Winchester, visited the school to take part in the celebration and to present the certificate. He heard about the many ways the school encourages global citizenship through its learning and by living out its faith.
The School’s vision is ‘We Care’, encouraging pupils to be ‘courageous in our learning, aspire to be the best we can be, have respect for ourselves and others, and have fun exploring the world around us.’
Kate Crawford continued, “We’ve always said our ‘We Care’ values and our Christian ethos is our vision and it’s what needs to drive everything that we do and the Global Neighbours Award helps to give you a framework for that. It’s not just about the environment, but the work on social justice. I think that is what we want our pupils to be when they leave school. We want them to be global citizens and we want them to have that kind of moral compass, for when they grow up and move on to secondary school.”
Assessors spent a day at the school in June, speaking to staff, governors and children. They praised the school leadership for their positive and proactive attitude to global citizenship and weaving their passion into all aspects of school life. They commended the confidence with which pupils of all ages could discuss global issues such as climate change and pollution.
Rev Tasha Anderson, Vicar of All Saints Milford said, “I think the award is absolutely amazing considering the school gained it in the same year that they had Ofsted and SIAMS inspections. To get it not once but twice is a tremendous achievement. This is something that is so much part of the culture of the school, the ethos and who they are. For staff, teachers and children, it’s something they are really living out. As a church, this year we’ve been looking at the importance of living out our faith so to see the ‘We Care’ values really lived out and recognised in this award is something that is really special.”
Much of the work of the school was based around those values:
Respect
The pupils take part in ‘Beach School’ at Milford on Sea and ‘Forest School’ in their grounds to learn about their environment and how to protect it. The school also holds an Eco-Schools Green Flag award for its environmental action and learning.
The school’s work on Climate Justice included a visit by some pupils to Parliament. They took part in a ‘Small World’ project, creating artwork that explored climate, nature and the planet. An array of displays round the school shows the amount of work that has been undertaken.
10 year old Jack said, “I’ve enjoyed learning about protecting our earth and doing projects about it. I’ve enjoyed Beach School and learning about all the ocean creatures and how we can protect them too. It’s really impressive that we got the Gold Award for the second time and I think we should be proud about it.”
Explore
Pupils regularly learn about different countries, cultures and faiths as well as social justice and how to take action. Milford on Sea Primary is linked to a school in Nepal and they join together on live link calls to learn from each other. One of the teachers has visited Kushadevi School to further strengthen these bonds.
9 year old Cammi said, “I was part of the live link with Kushadevi School and they asked us lots of questions and then people came up to the computer and answered them. I couldn’t believe we were actually talking to people who are in Nepal, on the other side of the world. It was like, ‘wow’! I learned a lot about their school and we heard them sing a song, then we sang one back.”
9 year old Joseph added, “I did a triathlon to raise money for Nepal so they could have a PE teacher. It was a three-mile run, 300-metre swim, and a 30-mile cycle ride. I raised £1,001. We’re such good friends with the school in Kushadevi that we feel like we are sister schools. It felt like we shouldn’t leave them out, because we’ve got a PE teacher, why shouldn’t they have one?”
Aspire
Pupils like to get their voices heard and challenge ideas. They have fundraised for Nepal and other issues they feel passionate about. The school has councillors, ECO warriors, cyber ambassadors and junior road safety officers. They have taken part in ‘Waterwise’ workshops to hear about the importance of saving water. They have worked with local businesses and charities such as the New Forest Rangers, the parish council, the local hospice and care home. Pupils and teachers have shared good practice with other organisations. They gave a talk to the Lymington Branch of the United Nations, a composting book has been shared with the community, and a Plastic Pollution project undertaken with other schools. Pupils have also made changes in school such as the elimination of single use plastic pots used for school lunches.
10 year old Issey said, “I’m a cyber ambassador and as an ambassador, we make different videos about how to stay safe online. I wanted to do it to help people to stay safe and to help the school to grow.”
Diocesan RE and Children’s Spirituality Lead, Jane Kelly, said, “We have these Christian values in our school, but this is children putting those values into practice. I think it’s really important for children to feel that they’ve got a voice, that they can make a difference in the world. It can be easy to give in to hopelessness but this makes them feel that there is an alternative. I think primary aged children are incredibly idealistic. They want to make the world a better place and something like Global Neighbours gives them the opportunity to live that out.”
Courageous
Pupils wrote to the Government after the COP26 conference and many pupils have also taken individual steps of courageous advocacy including one pupil who wrote to the King about deforestation and another pupil wrote to David Attenborough. Assessors praised the school for not shying away from discussing the big questions of the day including poverty and injustice. Pupils from across the school have the opportunity to plan and lead collective worship. Each week the Picture News worship is linked to an item in the news which is covered in an age-appropriate and thought provoking way.
10 year old Esme said, “I enjoyed schools worship where we learnt about differences and how it’s okay to be different.”
There are strong links between the school and All Saints’ Church. Pupils visit the church for key festivals such as Christmas, Easter, Remembrance and Harvest and there’s a school leavers graduation service and Pentecost party. Groups of pupils take part in Count on Nature in the churchyard. Pupil’s artwork, prayers and poems will feature as part of the church’s Harvest displays and their small globes artwork also hung in the church, so that members of the congregation are aware of what pupils are learning.
Rebecca Webb is the church’s Families and Schools Leader, and regularly works in the school as well as being in the playground to answer questions and chat. Volunteers from the church also help with Forest School and other events.
She said, “This award is amazing and has taken so much work. Miss Walton, who spearheads it, is phenomenal. She’s been out to the sister school in Nepal and has brought back so much learning and it broadens the curriculum and gives them a more global perspective. By doing this Global Neighbours work, it means that they’re coming out of this school being much more well-rounded children and able to make a difference in the world. The letters they write to people, their confidence in doing that is astounding and they should be really proud. It’s the cherry on the cake because they do all this work and to have it recognised is just brilliant.”
Bishop Geoff commented, “There’s some fantastic work going on here. The key thing for me is the way all the pupils are really engaging with it and thoroughly enjoying themselves. For them, school is fun. It’s also interesting to hear from the headteacher that the staff retention is very good as well and that’s because the staff genuinely enjoy what they’re doing. The other great thing is the tremendous link between the school and All Saints Church. Tasha and colleagues are doing a fantastic job in maintaining those links. The church isn’t seen as an added on extra, it’s integral with everything else that’s going on here.”
Every child in the school got a sticker to take home to prompt conversations about the award and their work. Bishop Geoff finished the celebration assembly by giving thanks and prayers for the school.
Staff and pupils hope it will inspire and encourage other schools across the diocese in their Global Neighbours journey too.
“It just uplifts everybody in the school,” Kate Crawford added. “It engages the children in learning and they have a purpose, but equally for the staff and for the community, it’s why we get up in the morning and why we come into work. Yes, we’re here to teach maths and to teach English, but at the heart of it, we’re here for the whole child and we’re here for our community, so I think it just inspires us to keep working hard and to do what we do.”
In our diocese, two other schools have achieved Global Neighbours Awards in the last year. Many congratulations to St Katherine’s Primary on their Silver award and Preston Candover who achieved Bronze.
