Laudato Si Group

Dear Children of SSMJ School,

The earth is God’s gift to us, full of beauty and wonder. And it belongs to everyone. But what we see today is that our common home has never been so hurt and mistreated. We have developed at a greater speed than we could have ever imagined, and have treated the earth like it has an unlimited supply of resources. We have taken more than our fair share from most people on the planet, as well as future generations. We have cut down the earth’s natural forests, polluted the earth’s waters, its land and its air.

The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. We are using more and more polluting fossil fuels which is contributing to climate change. Climate change one of the biggest challenges we face today. Climate change will affect us all, but it will be the poorest communities who will suffer the most. And despite these problems, we are not slowing down on how much we consume and throw away; leaving a trail of waste and destruction. We cannot continue like this. We can change, and we can make a new start.

The whole human family needs to work together to care for our planet earth So that we sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. So let’s put love for the world and love for our neighbours, into action, by living together in harmony, and caring for nature.

• Will you play your part to look after our common home?
• Can you take simple everyday eco-actions to care for the earth, like turning off lights, reducing water waste and recycling?
• And will you live more simply, reducing the amount of things we buy and throw away, so that we don’t take more than our fair share?

The world can’t wait! So let’s make that start today. Play your part to protect our common home.

Love Pope Francis

Meet Laudato Si' Team at SSMJ 2022/23

Laudato Si Actions 2022/23

We work closely with the Laudato Si' group from Church and they have been helping us to develop the gardens. Please click on the link to find out the fascinating work that has been happening in our Parish. 

Meet the Laudato Si' Team at SSMJ

On Wednesday 27th April the Laudato Si' Group in school presented an assembly to the rest of the school. They told the rest of the school all about Laudato Si'. Here is a copy of the Power Point below. 

Laudato Si' Background Information (CAFOD)

Laudato Si’ is an encyclical written by Pope Francis, it was published on the 18 June 2015. Encyclicals are open letters written by the Pope. Laudato Si’ discusses the damage being inflicted on the Earth by humans and calls on ‘every person living on this planet’ to make urgent changes to our lifestyles and how we consume energy in order to protect the planet. It deals with many environmental issues including pollution; climate change; water; loss of biodiversity and decline in the quality of human life. In his letter Pope Francis implores us to work together to create a better world for future generations and asks us to make the necessary changes in our lives in order to take care of, respect and value our ‘common home’.

The aim of the animation is to help explain and communicate the message of Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ to children, and to inspire them to take action.

Big Plastic Count 16th May - 22nd May

Before the count started the children looked at a power point presentation by Greenpeace to help them identify the different plastics they may find in their home. During the Big Plastic Count the children took home a tally chart to help sort and count the plastic items they throw away at home. The tally charts were brought back into school and the results were uploaded to the Big Plastic website and our 'School Plastic Footprint' was created. Next week (after half term) the Laudato Si' group will be looking at this information and then thinking about how they could best share the information with home. 

During Laudato Si' Week 2022 the children took part in different activities across the whole school. The children watched the animation and discussed different ways of protecting our 'Common Home'.