In this week’s liturgy, Mrs Beer introduced the children to the word “Youth”. Youth usually means young people – just like the children at school, but Mrs Beer also pointed out that anyone can be youthful – full of the energy, imagination and vibrancy of the young!
We heard this:
A Reading from the book of Ecclesiasticus
Young people, enjoy your youth. Be happy while you are still young. Do what you want to do, and follow your heart’s desire. But remember that God is going to judge you for whatever you do.
Ecclesiastes 11:9
So, we must channel the youthful energy we have into doing God’s work in order to make the world around us a better place.
Mrs Beer showed us three pictures:
The children quickly recognised Greta Thunberg (picture left) as an environmentalist, fighting against climate change.
They also recognised Malala Yousafzai (pictured top) who has campaigned tirelessly for the rights of girls and women to be educated.
The bottom right image is of Jack Andraka who, at the age of just 15, developed a technique of detecting some forms of cancer.
All three of these individuals show us just what youthful energy can achieve when properly channelled. They have literally changed the world.
Mrs Beer explained that these children had done massive things, but everyone can do something to make the world around them better.
The children came up with these ideas:
- Copying the example of Marcus in Year 5 by litter-picking
- Encouraging our parents to walk, cycle or scoot to school instead of driving
- Feeding the poor by donating to the foodbank
Don’t forget to tell us in the comments below how you have achieved this week’s mission.
5 comments
In year 4 we had a long discussion about the things we could do to make the world better and that they didn’t need to be big things. We decided to pick up litter when we are out and put it in the nearest bin. We also said we’d try and walk to school even if it was only for the big car park to try and reduce pollution a little. At home we are going to try not to be wasteful with our food and look after our belongings so that they last longer.
In Year 1, we talked about how we could make a difference in the world by doing good deeds. The children came up with lovely suggestions such as showing gratitude, kindness and planting a garden. We also talked about how we take care of the environment by recycling and preventing waste.
Year 3 children joined in litter picking to make the school environment a healthier place to be.They picked up leaves too to make sure that others didn’t slip on them. They talked about ways they could reuse things instead of throwing them away and encouraging their families at home to be more eco-friendly by turning lights etc off when they are not being used.
In year 6 we have been thinking about the environment and how we can take inspiration from the likes of Greta Thunberg and others who want to make a difference to the world climate crisis. We all said we would recycle more at home and in school and try to make small changes like swapping to a reusable bottle or using bees-wax wraps instead of plastic bags.
Year 5 spoke about what being youthful means to them. We spoke about being physcially youthful but we also discussed what being mentlly youthful could mean. We thought about being able to have brilliant and innovating ideas that could change the world. Some year 5 children have taken on the role of litter picking in the playground to help keep the environment and healthy and safe place.