To receive an update on the Together for Tomorrow Project.
Minutes:
The Together for Tomorrow Project
· The Local Authority had been successful in a funding bid to support the delivery of projects and education within the borough, following on from the unrest and disorder in Rotherham, during the summer of 2024.
· The plan for the funding was to develop the Together for Tomorrow Project, which would focus on bringing together PHSE and the RE Curriculum. The funding would be used to raise awareness of different cultures and beliefs and bring the communities of Rotherham together through schools and the curriculum. It would also be a good project to raise the profile of religious education.
· The project would be available to all schools in Rotherham and content would be recorded and hosted on www.forgecpd.com
· The Chair of SACRE and the SACRE CYPS officer in attendance at the meeting would be part of the Steering Group which would progress the project. At the end of the project there would be a celebration of the work completed throughout the project and an art exhibition would be held. It was suggested that the art exhibition could be linked to the Children’s Capital of Culture.
· Once the funding would be over, it was anticipated that the project would be sustainable and would be progressed through the curriculum.
· Members of SACRE were keen for visits to take place between schools to develop and create friendships and asked whether the funding could be used for this element.
· The Local Authority worked with an individual who ran an anti-bullying company, who had run an assembly for all schools within Aston for Internet Safety Day 2025. Following the assemblies, natural connections had been formed between different classes in different schools. An example was provided of two schools linking together, one school faced a challenge when teaching diversity as it was pre-dominantly a white British school. This particular school was linked with another school which included many different faiths and beliefs, which was helpful to promote diversity.
· There used to be a Linking Schools Project that was run by the local authority. Two schools had linked and as a result, both schools met virtually and visited each other’s schools twice a year.
· It was agreed that the Together for Tomorrow Project would be a good opportunity to encourage schools to develop links. There was also a partner at Forge CPD who would be a partner in the project and would be able to provide their technical IT skills to the project.
· Conversation at the Subject Leader Question and Answer Session mentioned above, focused on the lack of tolerance and requirement to assist with building up respect for other faiths and world views, this would be a big part of what SACRE members could contribute to the project.
Actions- Rotherham SACRE agreed that: