Working with young people has increasingly become an important aspect of LCoFs engagement with the community, and continues to do so through various aspects of its work. One of these aspects that continues to strengthen and grow in impact is its working with many of the schools in Luton.
Standing Advisory Committee for Religious Education (SACRE)
When Religious Education (RE) was confirmed as a compulsory part of the curriculum following the Education Act (1988), it became a statutory requirement for every Local Education Authority (LEA) to appoint a SACRE. LCoF sits on the SACRE board in Luton, providing advice and guidance on various matters including how to better implement RE into aspects of everyday life.
Archery
LCoF has successfully been able to engage with schools through it’s ‘On Target with Faith Communities for a Healthy Luton’ project, by facilitating archery activity in a number of ways. It has trained school teachers to coach school children using soft play equipment, worked in partnership with Archery GB in piloting the first Accredited Teachers Award using teachers from Luton (which has now been rolled out nationally), supplied schools with equipment and training to enable them to include archery in Physical Education (PE) lessons, and organising inter-school archery competitions.
Luton Peace Walk
The Luton Peace Walk is an annual event featuring visits to a number of places of worship, to encourage people to share their own faith and learn that of others, break down barriers and strengthen friendships. Schools have increasingly become a part of this in different ways, from creating beautiful pictures representing peace which have been turned into public signage in Farley Hill, to making clay tiles to form a beautiful peace mural at All Saint’s Church.
Workshops and School Assemblies
There is now a great deal of interest in enabling school children to learn about religions from people of different faiths and how this impacts on their daily lives. LCoF is facilitating this for many schools across Luton by inviting members of local faith communities to school assemblies, where a chair invites contributions from a multi-faith panel and then encourages school children to ask questions to both the panel and individual panel members. LCoF has also developed a Character, Virtues and Values workshop which includes watching a movie, discussing the lessons that young people identify from watching it, and discussing how these lessons can be applied in everyday life.