Courageous Advocacy
COURAGEOUS ADVOCACY: Is the act of speaking out against an issue of injustice, often on behalf of those whose voice is not heard. Courageous Advocacy equips us with the skills, tools, confidence, and opportunity to speak up and act on issues of justice.
At St Hilda’s CE we encourage students to be courageous advocates and provide many opportunities in lessons and through the Cornerstone Curriculum for students to develop the skills and confidence to shine their light for others:
CONTENTS
Our House System inspires students to be agents of change
Our Student Leadership teams have a proud history of advocating for others
Our Curriculum teaches students about others who have acted on issues of justice
Cornerstone Week Report 2024
The St Hilda’s Challenge Team
Courageous Advocacy gallery
Say No to Fast Fashion and Pre-loved Sale
Our House System inspires students to be agents of change
Our 6 Houses are each named after a founder, chosen by students, who is an agent of change in Liverpool and an example of how our students can live out the Christian vision and values that we cultivate. Our students chose the House founders because they are inspirational people who reflect our school context. We want out students to be the leading lights for those who are facing injustice and have the courage and knowledge to make a difference in their community and the wider world.
Our student leadership teams have a proud history of advocating for others:
| Cornerstone Team | Diversity Champions | MVPS | President and VP |
| 6th form leadership Team | House leaders | Sports Leaders | AWF ambassadors |
| Student Librarians | PP Mentors | Sports Captains | Literacy Ambassadors |
St Hilda’s has a thriving student leadership body who represent student voice, encourage flourishing, support their local community and advocate for change in the wider world. Our students therefore have the opportunity to flourish as leaders and be inspired by their peers to do the same.
Our Curriculum teaches students about others who have acted on issues of justice
Below are just a few examples of how students at St Hilda’s are encourage to tackle issues of injustice and be courageous advocates:
Cornerstone Week Report 2024
The theme of our Cornerstone Week 2024 was Spiritual and Courageous Advocate. Please look at the report below for some examples of how courageous advocacy was encouraged in curriculum sessions.
CW 2024 Report MASTER v5 - PTo view, please click here.
The St Hilda’s Challenge Team – ‘If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together’
The St Hilda’s Challenge Team was created in 2021, 40 staff completed 100km challenge in March and we raised £8k for Breast Cancer Now. The following year, we created the staff relay team and we have grown to a team of 65 members. In 2022, we ran a 50 mile relay from school to the top of Moel Famau. In 2023, we continued our route from the top of Moel Famau, along the Welsh Coast to the top of the Great Orme in Llandudno. Then in 2024, in memory of a student who had recently passed away we ran the 80km along the Liverpool and Wirral Coastline. Through the organisation and recruitment of staff for these challenges, we have raised £50k for charities including, Sunflowers, Ahead of the Game and Sarcoma UK.
The Challenge is the highlight of the staff calendar and demonstrates that our Christian vision and values are at the heart of everything that we do. When awful things happen in life, you access the support of these charities, and they are there to help you. You may not even know that these charities exist until the worst thing in your life happens and so when they have helped a member of our community, we feel a responsibility to ‘pay it forwards.’ Our relay symbolises this beautifully, you each carry the baton for a bit and then pass it on. Everyone has a part to play on the day. We have walkers and runners, cyclists and drivers. We all support and cheer each other on throughout the whole day, we clap, we cheer, we laugh and cry together. The sense of community and feeling of support is overwhelming and each year more members are recruited, and more money is raised. (Gayle Gilbert and Ben Norton, 2 teachers from St Hilda’s who organise the challenge).
Courageous Advocacy gallery
During the World Cup, our Diversity Champions co-ordinated each form to create a ‘One Love’ installation to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community. They also lead Black History events throughout the year, organise the Community Iftar and lead student voice in school policy making.
Our MVP students also created resources such as the videos below to be used by other schools as part of their MVP sessions:
This year our video came second in a competition, securing over 1400 votes!
We have hosted a Community Iftar during Ramadan since 2023 because we want to celebrate our Muslim community and to fast alongside families and students during the month of Ramadan. It is led by the Diversity Champions and other student leadership groups as part of our Cornerstone Curriculum.
Each year our pupil librarians support the school to take part in a national social media relay called ‘Read with Pride’. The event highlights books with LGBTQ+ characters, themes, story lines, authors and illustrators.
Say No to Fast Fashion and Pre-loved Sale – 16th July 2024
Inspired by KS5 Core Re and our Christian vision and values, we hosted out first ‘Say NO to Fast Fashion’ show. The show was very much a St Hilda’s family event with a staff and student band, pupils working as technicians, photographers and comperes, more than 4 departments and the Cornerstone Team contributing to the event including Music, Drama, RE and Art and every House fully involved. Each form dressed 2 models to represent their House and all models hit the runway wearing pre-loved clothing based on a theme such as ‘Punk’. Our dance and drama group performed a piece to inspire students to change their buying habits and this was reinforced with performative poetry by another student. Our students certainly enjoyed the experience and were able to spread awareness about why we should buy pre-loved in a creative way together.
The fashion show was then followed by a pre-loved sale led by the 6th form students who completed the KS5 Core RE Topic. Staff, students and carers were invited to the sale of pre-loved items donated by the St Hilda’s family including clothing and accessories for children and adults. The money raised will support further work to encourage sustainability. We will now have a permanent pre-loved shop housed in the Chapel, with future events planned! Inspired by KS5 Core Re and our Christian vision and values, we hosted out first ‘Say NO to Fast Fashion’ show. The show was very much a St Hilda’s family event with a staff band, pupils working as technicians, photographers and comperes, more than 4 departments contributing to the event including Music, Drama, RE and Art and every House fully involved. Each form dressed 2 models to represent their House and all models hit the runway wearing pre-loved clothing based on a theme such as ‘Punk’. Our dance and drama group performed a piece to inspire students to change their buying habits and this was reinforced with performative poetry by another student, followed by a performance by one of our year 8 bands. Our students certainly enjoyed the experience and were able to spread awareness about why we should buy pre-loved in a creative way together.
The fashion show was then followed by a pre-loved sale led by the 6th form students who completed the KS5 Core RE Topic. Staff, students and carers were invited to the sale of pre-loved items donated by the St Hilda’s family including clothing and accessories for children and adults. The money raised will support further work to encourage sustainability. We will now have a permanent pre-loved shop housed in the Chapel, with future events planned!
