2023 Newsletters
December 2023
Term Two Target Audience and Statistics
Most of the Sense over Sectarianism (SOS) workshops are delivered in Glasgow Primary Schools, mainly at the P7 stage. This is the age and stage SOS feel has most impact.
This is due to several factors. The young people are role models in their primary schools and in addition SOS are helping them to prepare for the transition to Secondary school.
In addition, the feeling is that at this age young people are old enough to have life experience but young enough to have an open mind when it come stop discussing issues such as sectarianism.
This year we have recorded a respectable uplift in activity from the term two of 2022 which is reflected in the statistics.
In Term Two 2023 we have visited 26 schools compared to 19 in 2022.
In Term Two 2023 we delivered 100 sessions compared to 96 in 2022.
In Term Two 2023 we worked with approximately 1210 pupils compared to 995 in 2022.
These significant rises continue reflect an increase in demand for our work and clearly indicates how highly the Sense over Sectarianism programme in valued in schools across Glasgow and Scotland.
Photos and information about these workshops you can viewed on both Twitter (X) and Instagram both with the handle @SOS_Glasgow
November 2023
#PARTIE23
The second "People Against Racism Together in Education" or #PARTIE23 event, took place across 2 days in Glasgow City Chambers at the end of October.
Sense over Sectarianism were involved over both days delivering a series of 7 short workshops to a variety of schools from the primary and secondary sectors.
The SOS team consisted of Mark Adams, the Project Coordinator, who was joined by Hyndland Secondary Principal Teacher Torgi Squire to deliver the anti-racism workshops.
The workshops consisted of the A - Z of Racism where the groups were encouraged to find words and phrases for every letter of the alphabet that they associated with Racism.
As mentioned above, the workshops were delivered to a variety of age groups across both the primary and secondary sectors and in some of the workshops the mixing of older and younger people provided an interesting dynamic of peer-to-peer learning.
In total over 200 pupils took part in the workshops.
Photos from the event can be viewed on both Twitter and Instagram on the SOS handle @SOS_GLASGOW
If you are interested in finding more information about the work of SOS email Project Coordinator Mark Adams (mark.adams@glasgow.gov.uk).
October 2023
Term One Statistics
As Sense over Sectarianism has evolved to become essentially a school-based education programme we plan and deliver our sessions to school across the 4 school terms of the year.
When we evaluate our work, we do both qualitative and quantitative assessments as we are acutely aware that it's possible to have a great education resource but if it doesn't get delivered on a realistic scale to the target area age groups then the quality is negated.
With these categories in mind every term we collect the delivery statistics under 3 headlines. The number of schools we visit. The number of sessions (workshops) we deliver. Finally, we count the approximate number of young people who take part in our sessions.
This year we have recorded a massive uplift in activity from the term one or 2022 which is reflected in the statistics.
In Term One 2023 we have visited 33 schools compared to 17 in 2022.
In Term One we delivered 97 sessions compared to 68 in 2022.
In Term One we worked with approximately 1440 pupils compared to 710 in 2022.
These significant rises reflect an increase in demand for our work and clearly indicates how highly the Sense over Sectarianism programme in valued in schools across Glasgow and Scotland.
If you are interested in booking your school in for our series of SOS workshops email Project Coordinator Mark Adams (mark.adams@glasgow.gov.uk).
September 2023
DIVIDED CITY ACROSS THE NATION
There is a myth that sectarianism and related issues only occur in Glasgow and West Central Scotland. There are several reasons why we know this is a myth. Not least because criminal charges and arrests have occurred right across Scotland. Often the offences take place on public transport which by its definition is not stationary. Another obvious sign is that much of the modern sectarian behaviour takes place online perpetrated by social media account holders from coast to coast.
One of the key reasons we know that these issues are widespread is by the good work of educators and teachers based right across the country, who recognise societal issues in their communities and look to address them.
SOS has always believed that local people are best placed to recognise local issues and best placed to try and resolve them.
The widespread teaching of the novel study The Divided City identifies the communities where good work is taking place to challenge prejudice and discrimination.
One of the many jobs that SOS carry out is the distribution of Divided City teaching resources.
This year alone we have distributed these resources to schools in Fife, Renfrewshire, South and North Ayrshire, North & South Lanarkshire, Dumfries & Galloway, Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverclyde and Stirling.
Proof indeed that education is key to Tackling Sectarianism, a national problem!
Photos of all SOS activities and events are available to view on X/Twitter and Instagram @sos_glasgow
For any further information about SOS email Project Coordinator Mark at mark.adams@glasgow.gov.uk
August 2023
DEFINING SECTARIANISM
Sectarianism can be defined in many ways. Very much dependant on the individual experiences that people encounter and their opinions derived from these experiences and other influences.
As part of our programme of workshops we use the first one to explore and analyse definitions of Prejudice, Discrimination, Bigotry and Sectarianism.
SOS feel that it is important for the young people to express their understandings of these behaviours and to provide examples of their own life experience.
That way in a non-judgemental manner, the behaviours, values, and attitudes of the young people can be discussed with their peers in an informal setting where the young people can talk openly about what they understand Sectarianism to be and how they have experienced it and other relatable behaviours.
The last activity is to examine and discuss the definitions of sectarianism that they young people produce in their groups and then compare them to the definitions that the Scottish Government provides and the working definition that SOS use because of our own experience delivering the workshops.
The SOS definition is "Sectarianism is Prejudice, Discrimination and Bigotry between two or more groups within the same religion which is sometimes experienced in football". This was derived from the many definitions obtained from your people.
We feel that it is important that they tell us what they think rather than tell them what we think. The very essence of youth work principles.
Photos of all SOS activities and events are available to view on X/Twitter and Instagram @sos_glasgow
For any further information about SOS email Project Coordinator Mark at mark.adams@glasgow.gov.uk
July 2023
FORWARD PLANNING
SCHOOL BOOKINGS
The Summer holidays are only just upon us but already the SOS team are organised for the next academic term. SOS opened bookings for term one in the 2023 / 2024 session and the results where overwhelming.
A total of 30 Glasgow Primary Schools (a new record for term one) have booked in for a series of workshops across August, September, and early October. The total of 30 schools includes 6 new Communities United school partnerships.
As a result of this result of this demand we had to open bookings for term two and now find ourselves almost full booked for the remainder of 2023. A really, positive note to go into the new academic year after the summer holidays is over.
RESOURCES REFRESH
Summer is a time where the SOS team have the time and opportunity to reflect on and refresh our existing teaching resources.
It is important that all content is fresh and up to date. As a result, the Primary school package will be updated and ready to go in August. A good use of time while schools are off.
Photos of all SOS activities and events are available to view on Twitter and Instagram @sos_glasgow
For any further information about SOS email Project Coordinator Mark at mark.adams@glasgow.gov.uk
June 2023
Communities United - Sports Events
The Communities United programme entails a minimum of 2 denominational and non-denominational schools from the same community coming together to take part in the SOS workshops series.
Children from different schools visit each other's establishments and work together through the programme. Learning, having fun and making new friends all at the same time.
This programme is then enhanced by taking part in a joint sports event where the young people play games and take part in team building activities. This tends to be a real high point for them as the feedback is always positive.
During the months of May and June 3 joint sports events were organised and delivered.
In May Broomhill PS and St Paul's (Whiteinch) took part in a morning of Boys and Girls Football tournament where the teams both played against each other's schools and then mixed teams together.
In June St Joseph's PS and Oakgrove PS took part in a morning of team building and sports fun with playground games, relay races and Football and Netball.
Also in June, Avenueend PS hosted a 3 school, boys and girls football tournament with neighbouring schools St Rose of Lima PS and Sunnyside PS.
Photos of all events are available on Twitter and Instagram @sos_glasgow
Bookings are now being taken for the next session so if you and your neighbouring school would like to take part in Communities United email Project Coordinator Mark at mark.adams@glasgow.gov.uk
May 2023
Sense over Sectarianism Sports Events
Sense over Sectarianism (SOS) Sports Events have always been an integral part of both the Communities United programme and the SOS Primary Workshops package.
Bringing young people from different schools together to play sports can be used as a reward for the hard work the young people have put in during classroom workshops and as an opportunity for teamworking and building friendships.
These sports events take different formats. The most common this year has been to bring closely located schools together in one of the more establishments, and deliver a morning of multi sorts, team building activities as well as football.
One of these such events was delivered in May and brought together P7 boys and girls from Broomhill and St Paul's of Whiteinch Primary schools. The schools had not previously held such an event and the young people from St Paul's were excited to visit Broomhill.
Penalty Kick and Crossbar Challenge competitions were held first to build the excitement of the day. These were followed by 7a side games between the schools initially then with the teams mixed in with each other for the final games.
The morning was a great success and photos from the day can be viewed on the SOS twitter and Instagram pages @sos_glasgow.
April 2023
Sense over Sectarianism Annual Report & Mentors for Violence Prevention
Sense over Sectarianism (SOS) must compile twice annual reports to the Scottish Governments Community Safety Team.
As a project we must report on the success or otherwise of the funded outcomes for that year. Both in qualitative and in quantitive terms. As a result of high demand from schools, and to support classroom learning around the Novel Study the Divided City, the SOS team made Primary 7 workshop delivery the focus.
The annual figures are detailed below. A great testament to the programme and the willingness of Glasgow schools to be involved in this important work.
These workshops support the teacher delivered topics, as mentioned above, such as The Divided City and related Equalities and Citizenship curriculum.
Total
Number of Primary Schools 85
Number of Workshops 401
Number of Primary Pupils 4883
Mentors for Violence Prevention (MVP)
SOS has coordinated the National MVP Gender Based Violence programme in Glasgow for several years. Over this academic year it has worked hard to re-establish the programme which was highly impacted by Secondary School's recovery from COVID restrictions.
During the previous period April 2022 - March we have delivered 5 staff training and CPD events which were attended by 65 members of staff. As a result the MVP programme was delivered over the year in 13 Glasgow Secondary Schools.
Planning for delivery of the MVP programme must occur much in advance as staff and in turn senior pupils are trained to facilitate the project. As a result, SOS will once again host a 2-day Peer Mentoring Training Event in the City Chambers in May for school staff and Campus Police from several Glasgow Secondary schools.
This event allowed existing schools to train new staff, schools who had previously delivered the project to restart and three schools new to programme to get up and running.
March 2023
National Week of Action Round Up
In February Sense over Sectarianism (SOS) held a "National Week of Action" for the Fifth time for schools across Scotland. Working in partnership with Action on Sectarianism the SOS National Week of Action mainly featured a poster competition across the week of 20th - 24th February and indeed the run up too.
Posters Art Competition
The key element of the month of action was the National Tackling Sectarianism schools Poster Art competition which attracted huge interest and a daily series of Twitter posts highlighting entries from primary and secondary schools.
Pupils were invited to make a Poster about the topic of sectarianism/tackling sectarianism.
The winners of the National Poster Art awards (who each received £500 for their schools) were as follows: -
- Primary Award winner was Gracey from P7 at St Conval's Primary School in the South Side of Glasgow.
- Secondary Schools Award winner was Scott from the ENP Unit at Lochend Community High School in Easterhouse, Glasgow
Twitter Activity
The ten finalist poster entries were detailed on Twitter in a popular vote where the winners were the entries which received the most "likes" in each category.
These finalists were viewed on twitter more than 120,000 times and received a total of over 1500 "likes"!
Both competition winners and the entries of the finalists can be found on the Sense over Sectarianism twitter account @sos_glasgow and Action on Sectarianism twitter account @AoSectarianism
For more information about this event or any other SOS initiative please contact mark.adams@glasgow.gov.uk
February 2023
Sense over Sectarianism, Holocaust Memorial Day Event
The annual HMD education event was once again hosted by Sense over Sectarianism on January 27th in the Banqueting Hall at 10am. Cleveden Secondary pupils were the hosts on the day for SOS.
There were a variety of speakers and performances who addressed an audience of over 350 young people and staff from a selection of Glasgow schools.
The headline speaker was Kirsty Robson from the HMD Trust and other speakers included the Director of Education Douglas Hutchinson and Councillor Christina Cannon.
School performances included music and drama from Bannerman High School, singing from the Glasgow Create choir and a variety of readings by Notre Dame High School, St Timothy's PS and St Benedict's PS. Lots of photos of the event are available on Twitter @SOS_Glasgow
Full Event Details are below: -
10.00 Welcome & Opening Remarks - Cleveden Secondary Hosts
10.05 Music - Hine Ma To and Al Shlosha d'varim, both by Allan E Naplan - Glasgow Schools CREATE Choir
10.10 Director of Education - Douglas Hutchison
10.20 "Ordinary People " Readings - St Timothy's Primary School
10.30 Echoes Through Time Drama - Bannerman High School
10.45 "Ordinary People" Readings - Notre Dame Secondary School
10.55 Kirsty Robson - Holocaust Memorial Day Trust
11.10 Christina Cannon - Education Convenor
11.15 Lighting of the Candles - Glasgow School Orchestra / St Benedicts PS
11.20 Lords Provost Office - Bailie Anthony Carroll
11.30 Thanks & Closing Remarks - Cleveden Secondary Hosts
For more information about SOS workshops contact Project Coordinator Mark Adams at mark.adams@glasgow.gov.uk
January 2023
Sense over Sectarianism National Week of Action Poster Competition 20th - 24th February 2023
The Sense over Sectarianism National Week of Action will be taking place on 20th - 24th February 2023 and we are delighted to announce details of our SOS National Poster Competition.
Two Awards will be split over Two Competitions:
- SOS Poster Competition - Pupils are invited to make Poster Art about the topic of Tackling Sectarianism
- (1) Primary Award and (1) Secondary Schools Award
This is a National Competition and will be voted on by public vote via Twitter.
A Prize of £500 for each category will be made to the winning schools!
Key Competition timings:
- 9th January Competition Opens
- 6th February Competition Closes (shortlisting begins)
- 9th February Twitter Polls Open
- 17th February Twitter Polls Closes
- W/C 20th February Winners Announced
Entries should be submitted by Photograph (small file size) to senseoversectarianism@gmail.com
All activity and updates will be on Twitter. Please follow @SOS_Glasgow & @AoSScotland and keep a look out for latest news.
For more information about this competition please contact mark.adams@glasgow.gov.uk
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