Live Simply
Dear Parents,
We are pleased to tell you that we are beginning our journey towards the CAFOD Live Simply Award. Live Simply is a response to Pope Francis's invitation to "work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us".
Live Simply is awarded to schools and communities who can clearly demonstrate how they have been living;
1. Simply
2. In solidarity with the poor, and
3. Sustainably with creation.
We have produced a school Live Simply action plan, which has been approved by the CAFOD Live Simply team, and have begun to carry out a range of actions based on the three key themes.
Live Simply
The School Council designed and helped to create a liturgical garden/space. This is situated outside the entrance to the school main office so it can be visited by pupils, parents and members of the wider school family. The garden will be changed to reflect the Liturgical seasons. We have created an Easter Garden, an Our World garden, an Advent garden and pupils, staff and governors have written Live Simply pledges to demonstrate how they will look after our world and give to others.
"The greatest commandment, Love God and love one another" Matthew 23:36-40
We have been educating the children and our families about the Liturgical season and the importance of its place in our school, and is why the children chose to place our Liturgical garden at our front entrance.
The children have also been inspired by Laudato Si and held a 'Walk to School Week' to reduce CO2 admissions. The children had the task of identifying what they could identify what God had created on their walk to school.
Live Simply- Our Easter Garden
Easter garden photos
Walk to School Week
Advent Liturgical Garden
Live Sustainably
Inspired by Pope Francis’ letter ‘Laudato Si’ we thought about how we can refuse, reduce, re-use and finally recycle to care for our common home. The EYFS team hold a swap shop of books. We also have the successful pre-loved uniforms available.
The children also want to raise awareness of the importance of recycling and the impact it has on our world. Our Eco club have created an assembly to share their knowledge and advice to our pupils so they can share with their families.
Live Simply- Harvest Food Bank
Fairtrade Fortnight
Pre-loved uniform
Book Swap
Eco Club
Bookvent Calendar
Live in Solidarity
At harvest time, we collected donations for the Ormskirk Food bank and also the Hope Food Bank to support members of our local community. The school council children designed posters to make the community aware of our project and were involved in organising and sorting the donations. They led the Collective Worship on this too the pupils.
At Christmas we collected items to make up Christmas Hampers which were gifted to Nugent Care to support local people. The School council children then collected and sorted the items to create the hampers.
"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger, and you invited me in" Matthew " 25:35
The children also took part in a Christmas Jumper Day to raise money for Cafod World Gifts. We had a Cafod visitor in to carry out an assembly to show the children how their fundraising enables us to stand in solidarity with our global family. The school council met to make decisions on how to spend the funda/gifts wisely.
Christmas Jumper Day
Christmas Jumper Day 2023
Nugent Care Christmas Hampers
We also took part in Fairtrade Fortnight. The School Council designed posters to display around the school and we held a Fairtrade own clothes day, asking for Fairtrade donations. With your wonderful support we were then able to organise a Fairtrade tuck shop with donations of 50p going to support global businesses through the CAFOD World Gifts.
The staff and pupils would like to thank you so much for supporting the wonderful ‘Live Simply’ work that has already taken place. The journey towards the award will continue throughout 2023, and we look forward to sharing our progress on the school website. You can find out more about the CAFOD Live Simply campaign on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky6SCsKyTMw&t=12s
Many thanks for your continued help and support,
Mrs Preston & Miss Whiteside
CAFOD Live Simply Prayer
Loving God, you created the world for us all to share,
A world of beauty and plenty.
Create in us a desire to live simply, so we can see your generosity.
You gave us responsibility for the earth,
a world of riches and delight.
Help us to live sustainably, so that those who follow us may enjoy the fruits of your creation.
Help us to act in solidarity with all our brothers and sisters
so that we help create a fairer world.
Amen.
