Education for Social Responsibility

At Reigate St. Mary’s we embrace Education for Social Responsibility (ESR) through community engagement, environmental initiatives, and ethical education. We are committed to fostering responsible citizenship and making a positive impact in the world.

What is Education for Social Responsibility (ESR)?

Education for Social Responsibility (ESR) is a curriculum that helps children to think about the core values that will lead to happy and fulfilled lives, within stable and caring communities while protecting the planet for the future. At the heart of it is a focus on the wellbeing of each of them individually, the wellbeing of teams they will work within and the wellbeing of the planet.

The world is changing at a phenomenal rate and education needs to respond effectively to prepare our children for the world of tomorrow. At RSM we aim to ensure that by the time the children leave us they know:

• how to have a healthy and balanced life that is not built around materialism
• the wellbeing of a team is dependent upon people working in harmony with others, building on one another’s strengths rather than competing to the detriment of others
• our future depends on healthy, life sustaining eco systems across our planet.

It is important that our children, as the leaders of the future, have core values that focus on wellbeing, putting people before profits and the sustainability of the planet ahead of global economic growth.

At Reigate St Mary’s we focus on:

• Caring as a way of living –  each year group sponsors a child through the Compassion programme. They write letters to them and learn about their way of life.
• Taking sustainability issues seriously – we are an Eco School with Green Flag status. We have a CO2 monitoring system and our Eco committee and Year 6 Green Leaders proactively discuss and implement ways to reduce our carbon footprint.
• Giving back more to society than we take – our comprehensive community outreach programme led by a designated member of staff includes teatime concerts for the elderly, weekly visits to a local old people’s home, the Make a Difference challenge in Year 5 and a sponsored water walk raising money to build water tanks in Southern Uganda.
• Recognising the personal value and importance of the natural environment – we prioritise outdoor learning and make full use of our wonderful 15 acre site. There are dens and quiet areas along with a nature reserve and pond.
• The power of a new environment to bring new thinking –  the Year 6 residential trip to Snowdon focuses on individual wellbeing, team wellbeing and environmental wellbeing. The children challenge themselves and have time to reflect and gain a sense of the natural systems we all depend on.
• Understanding how STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts and maths) can be applied, creatively, to tackle real world problems
• Deeper shared and reflective thinking as a way of life – our Philosophy for Children (P4C) programme involves the children in rational and reasonable dialogue about things that matter. The aim is not to win an argument but to become clearer, more accurate, less self-contradictory and more aware of other arguments and values before reaching a conclusion.

Pupils are acutely aware of problems facing the planet and the part they can play to ameliorate this.

ISI Inspection Report Feb 2023

Our children are learning how to be changemakers of the future: