OUR RESOURCES FOR
STUDENTS
Along with our RE partners, we have selected resources to help you mark Interfaith Week in your school. We've curated resources and ideas for pupils, appropriate for Primary and/or Secondary, to help you explore the theme for this year.
01
Setting the space
Before you start talking about identity, which can be sensitive and difficult for some students, it's important you set a safe and/or brave space. Take a look at F&BF's Skills for Dialogue lesson plans and The Feast's Guidelines for Dialogue.
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02
Interfaith Week Assembly
Use this PowerPoint, developed by our partners Facing History & Ourselves UK for KS3-4, to:
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Introduce students to the concept of interfaith
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Reflect on the theme
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Reflect on interfaith responses to hate
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Reflect on parables for integration
03
Understanding Identity
Use F&BF's Identity Tree exercise to help your students investigate and understand their own identity - and through our KS3 lesson plan and PowerPoint, introduce their stories to others in the class (see our suite of Skills for Dialogue resources adapted for Primary).
For secondary, you could also work through the resource Talking About Religion, where Eboo Patel (founder of Interfaith America) reflects on how religion impacts his identity. Or explore the Whose Worldviews? website, to use interactive data-gathering to turn your classes' ideas about God/ worldviews into diagrams for you to investigate and analyse together.
04
Hear from other young people
Why not watch some of these videos from TrueTube, of young people introducing you to their practices and places of worship? Or this Religion & Identity resource, where 4 teenagers reflect on their experiences of religious belief and belonging? Or look through a photo story "My Friday, by Nazmin" A Day in the Life of a Muslim Girl, (KS1-2) developed by RE Today
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You could ask your students these reflection questions:
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What would you say about yourself, based on what some of these people have said?
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What is important to me?
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What guides how I live?
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What has really influenced me – stories, media, people?
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How do I feel about people who don’t have the same beliefs as me?
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How do I relate to and treat others, especially those who have very different views and background from me?
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Is it important to get to know people who are different from me? Why? How could we do this?
05
Engage with your community
Why not organise a project to visit local communities, like in this Sacred Spaces Project from the Religious Education Council? You could organise a Faith Trail, like this successful project in Lambeth ; or get inspired by the approach of bringing community conversations into interfaith Education in Plymouth. Or why not get inspired by the Birmingham Heritage Trails, and make a map of an inclusive community, like these Heritage Trails produced by the Feast?
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If you're organising a visit to a place of worship, you could plan with your students some artful questions, that will help them understand the stories of the people they will meet.
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If you can't get out into the community, why not read some of these Worldviews Stories (from adult community members) developed by Culham St Gabriels?
Want to share stories, quotes or photos from your IFW celebration?
WITH THANKS
TO OUR
RE PARTNERS
The Interfaith Week for Schools initiative was developed in partnership between the Faith & Belief Forum and the National Association of Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education. We were united in our shared desire to support schools, with clear, high quality resources and ideas to celebrate the diversity of their school community during Interfaith Week.
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Many thanks to our RE Partners (who supplied resources and support), and without whom this initiative would not be possible.
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