Cohesion Projects
Lancashire Women's Voices Programme
Aims
- Encourage Integration
- Raise awareness of cohesion issues across Lancashire
- Dispel and bust myths about different cultures
- Build respect and trust of people
- Develop an understanding of communities and people from different backgrounds
Outcomes
- Women’s views from all backgrounds fed in to Lancashire strategies and policies
- Results from project help shape and develop networks, consultations and research
- Opportunities identified for future project developments.
Events were held during 2011 in Preston/Ribble Valley area; Ormskirk / Skelmersdale area; Pendle/Rossendale area;Fylde/Wyre/Lancaster area; Chorley/South Ribble areas; and Burnley/Accrington areas.
Please contact Pam Smith for further information :-
Tel: 01772 530591
Email : pam.smith@lancashire.gov.uk
Lancashire School Voices Programme
Lancashire School Voicesis a new programme developed to bring students together from a range of backgrounds from twelve secondary schools across Lancashire to discuss and explore alternative perspectives about six of the Lancashire Community Cohesion Partnership's (LCCP) research themes:
- Recession/deprivation
- Urban/rural issues
- Black and minority ethnic populations and race relations
- Traditional white communities
- Health and well being
- Intergenerational issues
On behalf of Lancashire Community Cohesion Partnership the County Council are co-ordinating with Lancashire Global Education Centre* on this programme. It is hoped the findings will capture students’ perspectives and collate research evidence in order to support LCCP to effectively target activities and resources and inform future work in relation to cohesion issues across Lancashire.
Pre-event tasks:
School councils will be given guidance and activities based on a given theme. A range of keywords will be sent to act as prompts for initial discussions. For example for the urban/rural theme these are: social class, overcrowding, transport links, isolation, poverty, pollution, amenities, stereotyping, leisure venues and power of the media .These are to help students begin to explore their theme and the issues connected with it. The students are encouraged to add to this list of keywords. The students will also be asked to carry out some research on their local area. They will be asked to interview a range of people, for example their Headteacher, governors, parents, family, faith leaders and fellow students. In addition they will be asked to capture any images using a mobile phone or camera which they feel represents their theme for their local area. Prior to meeting the students from the other school, they will each complete a student postcard and send to their partner school to help introduce themselves. Teachers are encouraged to help the students draw out the similarities and differences they share with their partner school.
School Linking Events: (6 half day sessions)
- 10 student council representatives from each school will meet their partner school to discuss the identified theme
- Philosophy for Children Community of Enquiry methodology will be used to capture student voice
- Community builder activities will be included
- Event to be recorded and a scribe assigned to document student voice.
As part of the event the activities will encourage students to share their views, listen to alternative perspectives and reflect on whether there has been any shift in their thoughts and ideas since embarking on this project.
Celebration Event : Lancashire Student Voice Youth Summit
- The event will be held at County Hall Preston on 8th February.
- LCCP will be invited to attend and hear the key findings.
- 10 students from each school will present a summary of the themes they discussed. Students will be accompanied by their teachers.
- Students from all participating schools will have an opportunity to get to know each other in an informal setting over lunch.
The final written report will be presented to the LCCP in Spring 2011.
Contacts : Sarah Hetherington, Schools Project Coordinator. Tel 01772 252299 Email sarah.hetherington@lgec.org.uk Pam Smith, Community Cohesion, LCC Tel 01772 530591. Email pam.smith@lancashire.gov.uk
Friendly Match
School children were left speechless when Sam Allardyce paid a surprise visit to the Education Department at Ewood Park.
The Rovers boss was invited to take part in the 30-minute Q&A, which was held in conjunction with the national Kick It Out campaign's ‘One Game, One Community' weeks of action and Lancashire Community Cohesion Partnership.
Big Sam was quizzed by Year 5 pupils from St Thomas Primary School in Blackburn and St Bede's Primary School in Chorley about a range of topics both on and off the pitch.
The excited youngsters were taking part in the community cohesion project ‘Friendly Match', funded by Lancashire Community Cohesion Partnership, designed to bring local communities from diverse backgrounds together, through a series of organised activities.
Big Sam said: "I was very impressed with the nature of the questions, which were obviously well thought out and based on what they'd been learning here over the two days, which was team building, leadership and working together.
"As manager of Blackburn Rovers, it's very satisfying to promote the fantastic work our Community Trust do here in terms of helping youngsters to develop.
"These are our fans of the future and if we can catch them now and look after them here, at Ewood Park, then we can catch them for life and that's very important to continue to create the history of Blackburn Rovers."