The RE Council was given a grant by the DCSF to develop further it's public relations strategy. It was agreed to devote part of this grant to a project to work with a number of Greater London RE teachers who are already conciously developing the role of RE in community cohesion.
The intention was for the project to build on Ofsted’s current report which stated that “ RE is making a good or outstanding contribution towards community cohesion and this is now one of the distinctive strengths of the subject”
Recommended by RE Advisers and teacher trainers who work within the London area, both primary and secondary schools were approached and invited to participate in the project. The teachers brief was to work up examples of best practice from within their teaching which could then be used as exemplars for national dissemination via a website and for a local exhibition within the City.
The primary and secondary schools taking part in the project were
Shapla Primary School, East London
St Paul's Whitechapel Church of England Primary School
Lindon-Bennett Special School (Primary), Feltham
Clore Tikva Nursery, Infant and Junior School , Redbridge
Stockwell Infant School and Stockwell Junior School
Gatton Muslim School Primary School , Tooting
Holland Park School
St Marylebone School
Mulberry School for Girls (working with Shapla and St. Paul’s)
Ilford County High School, Redbridge
Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School, Greenford
Kingsdale School, Southwark
The teachers involved in the project shared ideas and current practice with each other at an initial meeting in London before embarking on their own initiatives. The results of their hard work are available as case studies on this website and it is hoped that other schools and teachers may be inspired to use or adapt them to suit their own individual situations.
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