Peace & Social Justice

Transform Trust Statement of Position on the Israel-Hamas Conflict

We understand that the news of the ongoing conflict in Gaza is extremely upsetting, particularly for our children, families, and colleagues with connections to the area. Our thoughts are with all those suffering at this time, here and overseas, and we stand together as we pray for peace.

As educators and guardians of young people, it is our moral and legal* duty to provide an inclusive and nurturing learning environment where everyone feels safe and has a sense of belonging.

* Equality Act Public Sector Equality Duty Schools and colleges, along with all public institutions, have a legal duty to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations.

Our children are agents of change, and in partnership with our parents and carers, we are helping them to become charitable, global citizens and community-minded people. We will always do what we can to support humanitarian aid causes across the world to help any child who is suffering. 

It is our responsibility to help our children understand, process and formulate their views on important issues without prejudice or bias. In doing so, we cannot ignore the scope and seriousness of the situation in Israel and Palestine and the complexities involved. Adults and children hold a wide range of beliefs and, in discussions on conflict, we need to take an approach that allows all children to engage and benefit.

Here, as ever, our values of inclusivity and kindness prevail as we support our children and encourage our communities to promote peace, compassion and kindness.

We won’t tolerate any form of hate, discrimination or harassment.

What to do if your children are worried:

Within school, our children know they can always talk to a trusted adult about any worries or concerns they may have, and parents and carers can speak to our Pastoral support team.

Reporting any form of harassment:

If any member of our family community experiences harassment outside of school, we encourage them to report it via the appropriate channels and seek support.

Here are some useful links: 

https://www.educateagainsthate.com

Advice for parents:

https://www.educateagainsthate.com/category/parents/safeguarding-advice-and-support/

https://www.gov.uk/report-hate-crime

 

Welcome to the page for our topic ‘Peace and Social Justice’, or as the children may know it by ‘Peace and Conflict’. All year groups may have their own topic name based around this whole school theme.

The Peace and Social Justice team is jointly led by Mrs Bass and Mrs James and also includes Mrs Garrett and Mr Hillier.

Our intent at Parkdale is for our children to have an understanding of the world in which they live in. We want our children to be able to understand and talk about past and present events, not only in their own lives but also from around the world. The children at Parkdale will leave our school with a deeper understanding of how events fit together to tell the story of our past.

The ‘driver’ values for this theme are:

  • To develop the skills of cooperation and conflict avoidance or resolution
  • To understand that important lessons can be learnt from History
  • To develop a love for historical enquiry and thinking
  • To develop a sense of fairness and an appreciation of justice

A more detailed breakdown of our main curriculum drivers involved in this topic are:

Early Years – understanding the world – people and communities: children talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members. They know that other children don’t always enjoy the same things, and are sensitive to this. They know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and among families, communities and traditions.

Key Stage 1 (NC 2014 Equivalents) –significant people and chronology * how we know about the past * significant periods, events and chronology, events beyond living memory * comparison with now * events within living memory * personal and family history * historical research skills

Key Stage 2 (NC 2014 Equivalents) – use fieldwork * study an aspect that links events * conduct a local history study * understand that movement of people is associated with historical change * assimilate information and views from a range of sources * select and organise information * ask and devise questions * note connections, contrasts and trends

Documents

Gallery of Learning 

Save the Children

Save the Children

After some further consideration of the best non-partisan way to support the welfare of children in Gaza, we have decided that any fund-raising we do over Christmas will now be on behalf of the charity Save the Children. We had originally chosen to donate to UNICEF,...

Remembrance

Remembrance

We will be holding a special Remembrance Assembly next Wednesday, the 8th. On Friday the 10th, we will be marking the traditional silence. For us, this will be at 2:30pm as we are able to include the very special playing of the Last Post by  Mrs Ellis's husband...