Mrs Judy Cecil will report on the Multi-faith events held at Holmer Primary and Whitecross High Schools in October 2008 and outline proposals for future events.

SACRE received a report from Mrs J Cecil on Multi-faith events held at Holmer C.E. Primary School and Whitecross High School and considered outline proposals for future events.

The Chairman welcomed Mrs J Cecil, Headteacher at Holmer C.E. Primary School and commented that the first multi-faith event had been held immediately following the 2007 floods.

Mrs Cecil commented that pupils in Herefordshire had little contact with other faiths and schools had a duty to address the issue of community cohesion. Therefore, other than taking pupils on visits e.g. to specific religious sites in Birmingham, a local event involving a range of faiths had seemed the most effective way of addressing this issue. This had also helped in making the teaching real to the pupils.

She reported that teachers had attended a pre-event training session on how to prepare the pupils for the event. Prior to the event starting pupils had been given time to be calm and receptive to the event and informed about what would happen. 

Approximately 800 pupils, accompanied by teachers, had now attended events both at Holmer Primary School and at Whitecross High School.  Based on the pupils photo story boards created at the events, she showed a number Photostory presentations made by pupils to illustrate elements of the event workshops.

She reported that to date funding had come mainly from grants from a range of sources and from small contributions from participating schools in the case of the Whitecross transition project.  The Herefordshire Multifaith Development Group have submitted a funding bid to the Community Development Foundation Faiths in Action fund and a response was expected in April 09.

While attendance had been good there were quite a number of schools, mainly towards the boundaries of the County, that hadn’t attended due to the travelling times involved and this could be addressed by holding events at other schools around the County.

On debating the subject the following principal comments were noted:

§         Now that the events were becoming established SACRE considered it was essential that the momentum was maintained and that they should be made accessible throughout the County.

§         Based on the events so far the cost of running an event, excluding transport which is payable by schools, was £22 per pupil.

§         A suggestion was made that the Sylvia Short Charity could be approached by schools for financial support towards transportation costs.

§         While a grant application had been made that, if awarded, would go towards funding events in 2010/11, no funding had so far been identified for 2009/10.

§         If the Herefordshire Multi-faith Development Group were able to secure £12,000 this would enable the Group to provide 8 days of Multi-faith events in the academic year 2009/10.  This would reach a further 640 pupils and 35 teachers.

§         In view of the large increase in housing expected in the County in the coming years the point was made that the opportunity should be taken now to be proactive and teach pupils about the value of diversity and equality in a cohesive community.

§         It was suggested that, as representatives of the community, Herefordshire Councillors, together with town and parish councillors, should attend a similar multi-faith event.

SACRE were strongly of the opinion that these events provided value for money and, in view of Herefordshire’s outlying proximity to multi faith communities, provided this younger generation with an understanding and appreciation of multi-faith issues contributing to the longer term community cohesion of the County.

RESOLVED: That

a)        SACRE strongly recommends to the local authority that adequate funding be found to enable further multi-faith events to be held during the 2009/10 academic year.

b)        SACRE strongly recommends that the local authority considers facilitating a similar multi-faith event for Herefordshire and town and parish Councillors;

c)        The Chairman of SACRE write to the Leader of the Council in support of a) and b) above; and

d)        SACRE be kept informed of progress regarding a) and b) above by way of regular briefing notes.