National charity launches Interfaith Week 2013 challenge

National charity launches Interfaith Week 2013 challenge – taking children on an exciting adventure of discovery to help them value the cultural diversity of modern Britain

Primary schools throughout the UK are being set a challenge by Interfaith Explorers, a UNESCO-endorsed free online primary educational learning resource, to celebrate Interfaith Week (17-23 November 2013) by getting involved in an exciting adventure of discovery - trying out a selection of activities from the website to win certificates and promote interfaith understanding to the wider British community.

Designed to encourage young people to view the exploration of different faiths as a creative adventure, the challenge to all teachers is to see how many of the taster activities on the Interfaith Explorers website they can get their pupils to complete during Interfaith Week 2013.

One of the most popular activities available is ‘Know Your Lemons’ which teaches pupils about challenging stereotypes as they discover that, upon closer inspection, the seemingly identical fruits are actually different. Other activities include opportunities for vocabulary development and developing thinking skills and every activity is supported by Teacher Information and Guidance . Once teachers have tried as many activities as possible they can download free certificates –either for individual pupils or for a whole class or school.

“It is our ambition for every child in the UK to be excited by the idea of interfaith exploration,” said Rokhsana Fiaz, OBE, chief executive of The Maimonides Interfaith Foundation behind the Interfaith Explorers resource. “So we are asking all primary schools to take up our Interfaith Challenge. The opportunity is completely free. All we ask is for some feedback or photographs describing schools’ experiences of using the activities and the website.”

Full details are about the Interfaith Explorers Interfaith Week Challenge are available at http://interfaithexplorers.com/for-teachers/interfaith-week-challenge-2013.

Interfaith Explorers is based on the belief that young 21st century citizens need to embrace cultural diversity and be open-minded to explore, understand and respect differences, while at the same time recognising and embracing the many similarities between people.

As well as helping teachers to promote Interfaith Week, the Interfaith Explorers challenge also supports RE and PSHE lessons,  covering curriculum points ranging from literacy and numeracy to music, art and design. Research-based learning and teaching is built in throughout. It supports schools in offering ‘a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based’ as stated in The National Curriculum in England Framework Document 2014; alongside promoting ‘the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society’.

For further information about Interfaith Explorers, visit http://interfaithexplorers.com/ or email info@interfaithexplorers.com.

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