Hampshire Interfaith Network

Basingstoke's Youth Interfaith group go bowling

30 young people from different faith groups went 10-pin bowling followed on with a discussion at the Carnival Hall about what the group wanted to do in the future.

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Young people from different faiths enjoy New Age Kurling tournament

25 young people between 11-19 years of age participated in a New Age Kurling tournament at the Viables Community Centre on Saturday 14 June. The participants were from various faith backgrounds. The group discussed what other activities they would like to do in the future to encourage and increase their understanding of each other and their faith in a fun and engaging way. It was agreed that a Peace Walk visiting different faith venues in Basingstoke would help and promote a message of religious tolerance. This is being planned for October.

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If you would like to find out more about this group, please contact Islam Jalaita, Community Development Officer (BME) at Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
email islam.jalaita @basingstoke.gov.uk

Youngsters from across Hampshire bring social cohesion message to senior County councillors

Meeting in the Discovery Centre

Over 50 youngsters from Hampshire and Southampton schools put forward their views on social cohesion at a dramatised presentation to senior county councillors at the Winchester Discovery Centre on Wednesday 2 July.

Schools had been twinned with differing schools to gain a wider perspective on the issue and then asked to think through issues on social cohesion. A key word in their presentation was “respect” - particularly for each other as individuals, recognising that we are all different and respecting these differences while recognizing similarities also. To demonstrate this message, youngsters from Cantel School in Southampton and Wildern School in Hedge End all gave their presentation dressed in identical black hoodies with the message “social cohesion” on the back.

County Deputy Leader, Roy Perry, who is also the Co-Chairman of the Hampshire Interfaith Network welcomed the young people to the Winchester Discovery Centre. He pointed out that we were all different from each other and that even he and his identical twin had been very different and that difference was something to value as well as something that required understanding.

A DVD of the young people’s presentations, which were first given at Winchester University on 27 March, has been made and is now available for RE and Humanity classes in local schools to help youngsters understand people from different backgrounds.

Commenting at the end of the presentation Roy Perry said: “We had children from primary schools eg Fairfield School in Basingstoke, as well as secondary schools and the clear insight of these youngsters into these issues was very helpful for us as councillors and community leaders. They helped us to look with fresh eyes at the issue. Hampshire has a good record on community cohesion and the County Council as well as the Interfaith Network is keen to do all it can to make this a happy place for all communities. With youngsters like those who spoke to us I am very confident for the future of social cohesion here”

This event was organised in partnership with the Hampshire Interfaith Network. Please contact Amjid Jabbar if you would like to organise an interfaith young peoples event in your area.
email amjid.jabbar@hants.gov.uk

Basingstoke Youth Interfaith

Hampshire Interfaith Network in partnership with Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council organised an event on 27 March 2008. The evening was made up with various presentations including the work of HIN and was held in the Council Chamber. In total, 50 people attended including young people from various faith backgrounds. A follow-up meeting has already been arranged to develop a young persons interfaith group.

Social Cohesion Project

In February 2007 the Executive Member of HCC Children Services endorsed this two year project on social cohesion. The project has now been running for one year with pilot schools in Hampshire and Southampton. This report is a commentary on its progress and presents the findings and recommendations made by pupils involved at the conference held on 27 March at the University of Winchester. This conference was attended by 64 guests including head teachers, faith representatives, education officers and Council and SACRE members.

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Six schools have been involved to date: four Hampshire and two Southampton schools comprising three primary (Year 6 pupils) and three secondary schools. The schools were paired in order to construct joint enquiries into the concept of difference as they experienced it in their lives and in relation to those differences they celebrated, were comfortable with or found challenging. Selected pupils from these schools met to carry out this enquiry, which involved creating cultural maps, questionnaires, learning walks, and research training. Attention was paid to ensuring that these pairings took account of diversity, especially in terms of social and cultural background and ethnicity. 60 pupils presented at the Winchester conference.

The pupils’ enquiries in the twinned schools developed different foci. In the Fairfields Primary and Costello secondary enquiry the main issue encountered was the admission of Nepalese pupils into Costello Technology College and tensions between pupils that resulted, especially in relation to Nepalese girls speaking Nepalese together in the school library. Pupils already in the school were not prepared for the arrival of the new Tibetan pupils. Since Fairfields is a multi-lingual school its Year 6 pupils were able to work with Costello pupils in determining how best to address these issues.

In the Wildern and Cantell enquiry the main issues were media mis-representation of minority groups and the connected issue of parental attitudes. Since the schools had very different catchment areas resulting in a diverse ethnic population in Cantell and a mainly white population in Wildern they explored how this affected perceptions of difference within their own schools and through meeting together with named partners for each pair of pupils.

In the Mount Pleasant Junior School and Kings Copse Primary School enquiry issues concerning meeting pupils from different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds emerged and the impact of those on perceptions of identity and on pupil confidence and preparation for later life. For example, one pupil wrote: ‘When I was back at (my) school I felt safe and at home’ and another wrote ‘We may have differences but it doesn’t mean we can’t be friends’. A strong feature of this partnership was the way in which pupils were paired up across schools and the preparation for meeting up done through photographs and e-mail communication.

The project was supported by Hampshire services, especially the RE inspectorate, the Intercultural Inspector, the Hampshire Archive and Local Studies as well as other members of HIAS. This brought together varied expertise and ensured that the Hampshire initiatives already in place, Rights, Respect and Responsibility and the conceptual enquiry methodology in the Agreed Syllabus Living Difference, were used to maximum combined effect to give direction to the project.

Outside funding was made available through the National Association of SACREs (NASACRE) and the Westhill Trust, Aim-higher and the University of Winchester and through the Hampshire Archive and Local Studies. Additionally funding was provided from the Rights, Respect and Responsibilities budget and the Hampshire Interfaith budget. The RE inspectorate received £18,000 to lead and support the project from the education budget.

The project involved providing training for faith representatives to inform them of the role they might be invited to play in progressing the social cohesion enquiry by pupils in schools. To date two separate training days have been delivered to a total of 17 representatives. It is intended that these training opportunities will also be made available in 2008-9 as the project undertakes its second year.

Supporting documents