Year 2 - The Big Lent Walk

Year 2’s Catholic Social Teaching project has been based around the theme of ‘Solidarity’.

At St Richard’s, we believe that God made everyone, so we are all brothers and sisters in God’s family wherever we live. We are all called to help our brothers and sisters, even if we do not know them. We do this because we believe that we are all one in Jesus Christ. Solidarity means showing we care with our words and our actions. Year 2 wanted to focus their project on standing in solidarity with other children who are their global brothers and sisters and taking some action to understand their lives and raise money to help support them to make positive changes.

During the Spring term, Year 2 had been learning about human’s basic needs and how people use water to stay alive and be healthy and hygienic. They thought about everyone’s right to clean and safe water and listened to stories from Guti from Uganda and Abdella from Ethiopia. Guti and Abdella described the many challenges they face accessing clean and safe water but how CAFOD have worked with them to help provide water for their communities. The children were shocked to learn some of the statistics around access to safe water and played a game to highlight the inequalities linked to accessing water.

Year 2 took on the challenge of The Big Lent Walk to raise money for children like Guti. They challenged themselves to walk 200km and THEY DID IT! In doing so, they raised £337 for CAFOD. The children then shared their project with the rest of the school and told them all about what it means to stand in solidarity and how everyone has a right to access clean and safe water. Their next step is to delve further into learning about important people – past and present – who have stood in solidarity with their brothers and sisters around the world.