One pencil between two for Church Schools

But don’t worry, this isn’t about cuts to school funding, rather an example of the Church of England’s commitment to global education, as pupils around the country will be marking Share a Pencil Day and sharing what they love about school.

A partnership initiative between the charity ‘Hope,’ and the Church of England, Share a Pencil Day is about raising awareness rather than money, and provides an opportunity for children to learn more about the learning environments of their peers in other parts of the world, ending the day by saying (and tweeting) what they love about school.

With lesson plans, films, posters and worship resources online, pupils will participate in specially designed activities or as part of their normal lessons, grasping something of the challenges faced by their peers in many majority world countries.

It offers an excellent way to engage pupils in thinking about the challenges and unfairness of education in many parts of the world. The day will encourage many to think globally and ask questions about disadvantage, deprivation and exploitation.

There will also be opportunities to explore the effect on education of child labour and child marriage, the difficulties of finding the fees needed to attend school and the impact of armed conflict – all part of encouraging what we call ‘courageous advocacy’.

"Had we known what a success this was going to be we would have scheduled an extra lesson to cover all the topics and ideas raised. Share a Pencil day reinforces so many of our core values as a Church of England school in an engaging and interactive way," said one Year 5 PHSE Teacher of last year’s event. Not one to miss!

Remember to tag @churchofengland into the tweets of ‘what you love about school’ along with the hashtag #ShareAPencilDay.

And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6 verse 8

If you would like to get involved, worship resources and classroom activities for Church schools and church youth groups are available on the share a pencil website www.hope.co.uk/share-a-pencil-day/ alongside those resources produced for community schools.

Derek Holloway is School Character and SIAMS Development Manager for the Church of England