| The
NASACRE/Westhill Young Inter-Faith Projects
The
2008 Awards
Congratulations
to the following who have been awarded funding for projects for 2008/9
-
Buckinghamshire
- Bradford
- Cambridgshire
and Peterborough
- Lancashire
- Newcastle
- Swindon
- Torbay
The
2007 Awards
Although
the recipients of the 2007 Awards have been announced, these Awards are
intended to support work planned for the school year 2007-8, and there
is therefore little yet to report on in terms of progress. In order to
support and affirm as many of the very worthwhile projects as possible,
some of the total available was divided into several part-awards. The
projects are summarised below, and include Greenwich SACRE’s project,
for which an Award was belatedly made when it transpired that some additional
funding could be drawn on.
-
Bedfordshire SACRE. Focussing on three striking faith
buildings (mosque, gurdwara, Anglican church) in an economically poor
area of Bedford, the project builds on existing educational and community
resources to prepare KS2/3 pupils for visits to the buildings and contacts
with faith community members, with follow-up.
- Guernsey
SACRE. A group of Year 9 pupils, having electronic links with a Solihull
school, will travel to the school and join in visits to faith communities
in Birmingham, creating a base for long-term links, the project being
posted as it develops on Guernsey’s Grid for Learning to enable
all Guernsey’s Year 9 pupils to engage with the experience.
- Hampshire
SACRE. In partnership with Children’s Services, faith groups and
Winchester University, the project will establish a sustainable framework
for promoting interaction among young people aged 13-19 from different
faiths, with opportunities to influence and inform local policy and
decision makers - report
- Lewisham
SACRE. Modelled on an earlier successful initiative, SACRE will organise
a two day event “Going to Secondary School” for Year 6 pupils
in five primary schools, coming from many faith communities, which will
address issues of concern for them about faith and its practice in their
new schools - report
- Liverpool
SACRE. A major inter-faith conference for all Year 12 pupils is being
planned for 2008 (when Liverpool will be the European Capital of Culture)
by Liverpool’s SACRE and Youth SACRE and a local community partnership,
supported by Merseyside Council of Faiths, Liverpool Hope University
and other significant organisations. (Provisional Conference date: June
26th 2008.)
- Portsmouth
SACRE. Interfusion, the Portsmouth Youth Diversity Forum created following
an earlier successful Award bid, is continuing to develop its scope
and activities; the part award will enable equality of access for a
range of visits to religious centres to promote discussion on spiritual
and inter-faith issues.
The
2006 Awards
The
2006 Awards were chosen with the experience of judging the first round
of Awards in 2005 to build on, but with their resulting projects at the
time mostly still in the early stages of progress. (Portsmouth had got
off to a flying start.) There were significantly more applications for
an Award this time, from all regions in the country, and with a more diverse
range of projects, and the standard was high. The successful projects
have been coming to fruition throughout the present year.
- Blackburn
with Darwen
SACRE have helped develop a primary school programme “Kids United”.
240 children in 4 diverse Primary Schools have been engaged in interfaith
exchanges and activity days ( e.g. art, music, sport, computers) and
used various media to record and share their experiences, including
a colourful newspaper. A new secondary school programme “My home
town” is in progress, with a mix of youngsters interviewing a
mix of adults
- report
-
Kirklees SACRE are creating and helping to fund a Virtual
Learning Environment linking local educational and faith-community and
inter-faith websites, due to be available to schools from this September
and more widely from January 2008. This will increase the facility for
sharing inter-faith resources and conducting dialogue between young
people and across generations.
- Newham
SACRE have involved their Student SACRE in amending their schools’
Sex and Relationships Education. Faith perspectives on these topics
have arisen from student discussion within and among different faith-groups,
and this has been incorporated in a series of DVDs for use in all Secondary
Schools and in support of Governor training, excerpts being highlighted
at NASACRE’s AGM this year - report
- Surrey
SACRE, responding to the impetus of their Youth SACRE, have sponsored
a residential interfaith weekend for young people exploring the ideas
of respect, acceptance and transformation, and recorded on DVD as a
resource for RE and for the Youth Service and Youth Parliament
- report
- Tameside
SACRE’s project, building on an initial interfaith event in November
2005, focussed on presenting a large exhibition for four days in March
2007, on the theme “Belonging to Faith Communities”, involving
pupils from both LA and supplementary religious schools in preparation
and displays. Its DVD is being circulated. A third event is now being
planned and a Young People’s Faith Forum is under discussion
- report
The
2005 Awards
This
was the first round of awards and the following were awarded from a good
set of applications:
- Bristol
SACRE, working with Bristol City Council to defuse
racism and bullying in school settings and to link RE with Citizenship,
held a ‘Unity and Diversity’ Forum on 28th March this year,
based on responses to a questionnaire on faith and values
- Hounslow
SACRE circulated a questionnaire on RE around all sixth-formers, and
mounted an initial major conference in July, which will stimulate the
creation of RE resources, particularly for Sixth-Form General Studies
- Hull
and East Riding SACREs sponsored a student video project,
leading on to a high profile ‘Faith2Faith’ conference for
the secondary age range in November 2006. A second phase is planned
with a regional dimension building towards a conference in Bridlington
in Spring 2008 - report
- video
- Portsmouth
SACRE initiated a representative interfaith forum of 15-18 year olds,
now called ‘Interfusion’, which has taken an active role
in developing inter-faith work among young people and built up a strong
public profile. A multicultural music and faith event was successfully
mounted on 3rd Dec 2005. Home Office funding was obtained to enable
the project to continue - report
- Solihull
SACRE invited all schools with pupils in the 8 to 18 age range to enter
a competition on the theme of “Breaking down Barriers –
What do we believe?” The winners will be celebrated in a large
multi-faith festival for schools on October 3rd this year, from which
the intention is to establish a Young People’s Faith Forum - report
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