Ponteland School’s Work Tackling Global Poverty Recognised with Christian Aid Award  

From locally sourcing food for lunches, running a second hand uniform stall and litter picks to having a meat free lunch each week, pupils and staff at Richard Coates Primary School have been working hard to take their place as global citizens.

Richard Coates Church of England Primary School, Ponteland near Newcastle has achieved Bronze Award status in Christian Aid’s Global Neighbours scheme in recognition of its wide-ranging steps to love their global neighbour.

The accreditation scheme celebrates schools that are helping pupils learn about global poverty and the Christian responsibility to tackle it, as well as giving them the tools to play a confident part in creating a fairer world.

Message from Mrs Cape about our project:

“We are thrilled to be recognised for the work we have done as a whole school community to raise awareness of the extreme inequalities across our globe and perhaps more importantly, the steps we can take to address these. The pupils learn about global issues regularly and gain an understanding of injustice in our world. Our Courageous Advocates Club and Enterprise Club work hard to make a difference in the world as seen in their cake sale to support an animal welfare charity using only free range eggs.

“Our gardening club grows produce which is used in our kitchens helping us cut down food miles and to live more sustainably. Pupils have been learning about issues of injustice and poverty and have written to our MP with their concerns. We learn about people who want to make the world a better place and this has challenged the whole school community to think about how each of us can make a difference in our local community and globally. We took part in Christian Aid’s scheme because it gives us a practical way of living out our school value"

Alison Brown, Global Neighbours Schools Programme Officer at Christian Aid, said:

“The Global Neighbours Scheme was launched in partnership with the Church of England’s Education Office with a vision of helping young people understand more about the inequalities in this world and helping them to become courageous advocates for those who have no voice.

It’s wonderful to see how staff and pupils at Richard Coates have taken this to heart and are seeking to tackle injustice.

“Christian Aid is also looking to recruit more volunteer teachers locally to go into schools to help us deliver the scheme. If you have experience of working with children and are excited about inspiring a new generation of agents of change, we would love to hear from you!”

Any primary school in England can join the Global Neighbours scheme. There are three levels of accreditation: bronze, silver and gold. These are verified by independent assessors, who look for evidence across five areas: school leadership, teaching and learning; collective worship and spiritual development; pupil participation; and community engagement.