Fundraising and Community
Through our fundraising, charity work and work with local and global communities, we develop our understanding of our school’s Christian values of compassion, service, generosity, humility, responsibility and thankfulness. At Blue Coat Junior School, we understand our responsibility in taking a lead in actions that will create a future of success for all of God’s children and work hard to make a difference wherever we can. We also enjoy sharing experiences within our local community, developing the skills and understanding required to live well together.
Blue Coat Junior in the local community
Blue Coat Junior School has a strong and positive relationship with its local, school and church community. We recognise the importance of team work and value co-operation as a key skill fundamental to living out our school vision and values. Below are a few examples of the work we do with the community to promote harmonious living.
Blue Coat Festival
Blue Coat Festival is a celebratory time for the entire Blue Coat Community. All schools in the Federation showcase their learning on displays in St Matthews Church and then visit the Church to see their learning. The church opens up its bell tower where an impressive view of Walsall can be seen by all. “Old Blues” are invited to join the community for the Blue Coat Sunday service, led by Rev. Jim Trood, which is well attended and enjoyed by all pupils, staff and local community residents.
Easter and Christmas at St Matthews
Blue Coat Junior School regularly share worship with members of local churches including St Matthews and St Lukes. Members of the clergy deliver worship in school once a week and we attend St Matthews Church at Easter and Christmas. Members of the community are always invited to the services and it is a time widely enjoyed by all. We value these special celebrations in the Christian calendar and celebrate them as a Church School.
Parent involvement in our community
Enabling children and adults to flourish is at the heart of our school. To support this, we have PACT workshops twice a year. This is an invitation to parents and carers to join us for a lesson in relation to the curriculum. The workshops are highly valued by all in appreciating their role in supporting our children flourish.
Visits to local places of worship
We value the contribution additional activities make to enhancing our curriculum and bringing learning to life. In support of our RE lessons, we visit a variety of local places of worship representing a range of religions that reflect our local community and promote understanding and knowledge of places of worship.
Blue Coat Junior and the wider community
Blue Coat Junior School teaches values of compassion and responsibility to ensure our children understand their role in creating a fair, equal and just future for all of God’s children. We live out these values through our fundraising and charity work, developing compassion and empathy for those less fortunate and doing all we can to help.
MacMillan Coffee Morning
We have an annual Macmillan coffee morning, led by our PTA, to help raise funds and awareness for cancer sufferers. This develops compassion at Blue Coat for people who are ill whilst reminding us to be thankful for our own and our family’s good health.
Harvest – Glebe Centre
Children at Blue Coat Junior School understand that whilst some people have homes and foods, this is not a guarantee for all people living in Britain. Through collective worship we discuss global issues of hunger and homelessness, which motivates the children to live out our values and help those more in need through their generosity, service, justice, responsibility, humility and compassion. The children collect tins of food, which are donated to the Glebe centre and we have a food basket for donations all year round.
Lent Appeal (Njarange, Kenya)
We are very proud to be linked to Njarange in Kenya. Each year, a key worker informs us of the current situation in Njarange and we then complete fundraising activities as part of our Lent Appeal in order to help the community there. This gives us compassion for global communities and the problems they face, which motivates us to take action and help. In June 2018 we were visited by Bishop Moses who serves the people of Njarange. We enjoyed asking big questions about life in Njarange and were fascinated by their way of life and their achievements.
