Being a global citizen means taking responsibility for making our world a more inclusive, harmonious, fair and sustainable place. We aim to identify and celebrate national, cultural and religious differences, and to engage with the environmental challenges faced by our planet.
At heart, Global Citizenship is about understanding and owning the choices we make, regardless of where we come from. It is a broad subject. It incorporates elements of religious education, PSHE, geography, politics, science and history. Throughout the year, the children are encouraged to take an active role in their community to develop the knowledge, skills and values that they will need to engage with the world and to change things for the better.
Throughout the curriculum, the children study topics such as British values. We examine different types of government and learn about democracy in our country in order to get a better understanding of our right to vote and how laws are made within the overall context of the roles and responsibilities of Parliament. Other topics are focussed on personal wellbeing such as mindfulness, staying safe on our roads, how to budget and tackling body image. We look at how beauty is portrayed in the media and how we can remain healthy and happy with our shape. Reaching out to our wider community plays an important part too. Here, children learn about how the elderly are cared for in the UK by visiting our local care home. We aim to demonstrate how much young and old can benefit from each other. The children explore equality through topics on water ownership, food access and sanitation as well as looking at how to reduce waste at home and school.
Understanding the diversity of our school pupil body is a strong theme throughout. Children learn about and celebrate different cultural traditions around the world, from traditional dress and dance to food and festivities. Coupled with learning about different religions through overarching topics such as forgiveness and humanism, the children gain a better understanding of different religious faiths as well as the similarities and differences between them.
Global Citizenship is an exciting and important addition to our evolving curriculum and perfectly embodies our vision at the school to “empower our community of learners with the confidence to make a difference to their changing world.”