2022 Newsletters

December 2022

Sense over Sectarianism, Target Cohort and Statistics

The vast majority of 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.

In term one of this academic year from August to the October break SOS directly worked with over 700 Primary pupils across 17 schools. In total 68 workshops were delivered.

In term two of this academic year from the October break until Christmas holidays SOS directly worked with just under 1000 pupils across 19 establishments. In total 96 workshops were delivered.

These numbers are testament to the value schools give to the work of SOS as all workshops are delivered at the invitation of the schools individually.

For more information about SOS workshops contact Project Coordinator Mark Adams at mark.adams@glasgow.gov.uk

November 2022

Sense over Sectarianism, University Lectures and Probationer Teachers

Every year Sense over Sectarianism (SOS) staff deliver training to the latest cohort of Glasgow University School of Education 3^rd Year students and probationer teachers working in Glasgow schools in both the Primary and Secondary sectors.

We were delighted this academic year that these training events were delivered in the traditional face to face manner where they offer great opportunity for discussion and debate. As part of the content the students and new teachers take part in workshop activities which we deliver to our young people in schools.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about these CPD sessions is that they are all elective but still attract healthy numbers of participants. This can only be a positive thing that the reputation of our programmes goes before us and is highly regarded.

With enthusiastic students and new teachers getting involved and driving the work forward this continues to bode well for the future. These sessions provide a great platform for capacity building and discussion about the SOS teaching resources relevant for different ages and stages.

October 2022

#PARTIE22

The first "People Against Racism Together in Education" or #PARTIE22 event, took place across 3 days in Glasgow City Chambers this month.

Sense over Sectarianism were involved in two different roles in support of the event.

On Monday and Tuesday, the SOS team of Mark and Bradley were joined by Our Lady of Peace teacher Rifat Ahktar to deliver a series of anti-racism workshops.

On the Wednesday SOS had a stall at the celebration event where Mark and Bradley were joined by the newest member of the SOS team Marya. The stall was visited by over 1000 young people and teaching staff over the course of the day.

The workshops were delivered to a variety of age groups across both the primary and secondary sectors and as a result a range of issues and themes were shared and discussed.

As is always the case the SOS team concluded by empowering the young people to change society for the better by being actively involved. Our conclusion being that it is no longer enough to be a non-racist but we must be anti-racist if we want to make significant change!

Photos from the event can be viewed on both Twitter and Instagram on the SOS handle @SOS_GLASGOW

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 2022

Sense over Sectarianism Workshops are Up & Running

Term One for the academic year 2022-23 got off to a flyer as it did at this time last year with a full diary of Primary 7 Classes booked in to take part in our series of 3 Tackling Sectarianism workshops.

Schools were so eager to participate all available Term One slots had been booked before schools closed for the summer back in June (for the second year running).

In Term One we are delivering 2 x 3week blocks of workshops and as restrictions are no longer in place, we have been able to add additional numbers of schools into the programme.

In our first block we have worked with 13 different classes in 9 different schools right across the city from Antonine PS in Drumchapel to St Joachim's PS in Carmyle.

In our second block we will deliver to 11 different classes in 8 different schools. Schools from all 3 GCC Education areas (North East, North West & South) are involved.

Term Two (after the October week holiday) slots are also already being booked for workshops every day of the week across our first 3-week block with several 3 weeks slots still available in blocks two and three.

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).

August 2022

August Newsletter

The (SLDFL) is pleased to announce renewed support from Sense Over Sectarianism (SOS), who will remain as title sponsor for season 2022/23.

The country's largest senior football league will continue to be referred to as the Sense Over Sectarianism Scottish Lowlands Development Football League, with the SOS logo incorporated into the competition's branding.

Sense Over Sectarianism is a national education programme designed to tackle sectarianism, delivered in schools and communities throughout Scotland.

The agreement covers all six Under-20 SLDFL conferences and 87 clubs across Scotland.

Thomas Brown, chairman of the Scottish Lowland Football League, said: "We are grateful to Sense Over Sectarianism for their continued support of the Scottish Lowlands Development Football League.

"We, in turn, are only too happy to endorse their important message and work.

"Football can, and should, be a force for good. We can use our platform to encourage players and supporters alike to help us create an inclusive environment - free of any kind of discrimination."

Mark Adams, Project Co-ordinator at Glasgow City Council and speaking on behalf of Sense Over Sectarianism, added: "If Scottish society is to achieve a significant reduction in sectarian attitudes and behaviours, then everyone must play their part.

"Everyone is responsible for change and football's authorities are ideally placed to help.

"This significant partnership between Sense Over Sectarianism and the Scottish Lowlands Development Football League is an important statement for us.

"We look forward to building on this partnership for the new season and creating learning opportunities for young people along the way."

You can find out more about Sense Over Sectarianism on Instagram and Twitter at @sos_glasgow.

July 2022

SUMMER CAMP

For several years Sense over Sectarianism have delivered a Summer Football Camp in Partnership with North Kelvin Sports. The camps now take place at Garscube Sports Complex which belongs to Glasgow University. A very fitting venue for a partnership that delivers both sporting and anti-sectarianism education across the school holidays.

The camp is delivered every weekday from 10am - 3pm and is hugely popular with young people from both the North Kelvin United Football teams and young players from other clubs across the local communities.

Every lunchtime the young people take part in a variety of activities ranging from Ice Breakers in the early week, to Tackling Sectarian educational activities throughout the week and an evaluation every Friday.

The young people in camp are aged between 5 and 12 years old and the activities are designed to be age appropriate. The tasks are challenging in a positive manner in in many cases the young people work together in groups to come up with creative solutions. The younger players particularly like the quizzes which test their learning and provide great excitement.

All activities are delivered by SOS and North Kelvin Sports staff which keeps the educational delivery fresh and interesting for the young people. Young people can book into the can through the North Kelvin website at www.northkelvinsports.org

Regular updates and photos are available on both Twitter and Instagram at @sos_glasgow

For more information email Project Coordinator Mark at mark.adams@glasgow.gov.uk

June 2022

The return of communitites united

Over the 20+ years we have been delivering anti sectarian work one of the most popular projects and arguably most effective work has been delivered through our Communities United programme.

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.

Due to COVID this programme was suspended as we were not able to mix pupils and staff from different schools. But as of now the programme is back.

In June we held 3 sports events at Soccerworld attended by over 350 school children from 10 schools. Photos can be seen at @sos_glasgow on both Twitter and Instagram.

Bookings are now being taken for 2 x 3-week blocks in Term One 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

April 2022

Sense over Sectarianism Annual Report & MVP Training Event

Annual Report (April)

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 secondary school closures and restrictions for this funded period (April 2021 - March 2022) 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 such as The Divided City and related Equalities and Citizenship curriculum.

Total

Number of Primary Schools                    - 88

Number of Workshops                             - 334

Number of Primary Pupils                       - 4349

Mentors for Violence Prevention (MVP) (May)

SOS has coordinated the National MVP Gender Based Violence programme in Glasgow for several years. Over this academic year it has been more difficult to deliver the programme due to the hangover from Covid restrictions and school closures. However, 9 of our trained secondary schools did deliver the programme in some form.

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 hosted a 2-day Peer Mentoring Training Event in the Burgh Court to 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.

Much positive feedback was received not least many people affirming how nice it was to be back at a 'live' training event where staff from different school could network and share good practice and experiences.

March 2022

Sense over Sectarianism Workshops in Gaelic

Sense over Sectarianism (SOS) have worked in partnership with both the (original) Glasgow Gaelic Primary School and the Glasgow Gaelic Secondary School for several years. And more recently have begun a similar partnership with the Govan Gaelic school.

Primary 7 pupils read the Divided City in class as a topic and are supported by workshops delivered directly by a member of the SOS team.

The workshop delivery however has always been in English and not Gaelic, until now!

A combination of the appointment of a Gaelic Schools Liaison Officer, a proposal and introduction from the Quality Improvement Officer with responsibilities for Language Education together with the increased demand for Gaelic schools in Glasgow has led to an exciting new initiative to teach SOS educational resources in Gaelic.

The Schools Liaison Officer, Yvonne Irving, took part in 'Team Teaching' training sessions with SOS staff Mark Adams and Bradley Ruddick and through this collaboration developed and translated the workshop package into Gaelic.

Yvonne has now been delivering the workshops, with support from Mark, to the young people and going forward will be able to deliver to the 3 current and 1 new Gaelic school (soon to open) across the city.

This however, this is only the tip of the iceberg as plans are afoot to develop and translate other SOS resources and programmes going forward, as the opportunities for Interdisciplinary learning are huge.

Watch this space!

February 2022

National Week of Action

In February Sense over Sectarianism (SOS) once again held the "National Week of Action" for the fourth time for schools across Scotland. Working in partnership with Action on Sectarianism the SOS National Week of Action featured a variety of activities across the week of 21^st - 25^th February.

There were 2 key elements to the week of action. The National Tackling Sectarianism schools Poster Art competition which again attracted huge interest and a daily series of Twitter posts highlighting the work of SOS and our partners in Tackling Sectarianism and other related work.

The winners of the National Poster Art awards (who each received £500 for their schools) were as follows: -

Posters Art Competition

Pupils were invited to make a Poster about the topic of sectarianism/tackling sectarianism.

Primary Award winner was Mya Lennon of St Timothy's Primary School in Glasgow.

Secondary Schools Award winner was Nellie Heinrich of Shawlands Academy in Glasgow

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

Twitter Activity

Daily Posts were tweeted across the week highlighting the following subjects: -

Poster Competition winners

Poster Entries from non-finalists

Video clips from our online Holocaust Memorial Event

Shout outs to schools highlighting the work of schools in Scotland

'Throwback Thursday' and 'Flashback Friday' photos from activities and events from previous years.

All this activity can be found on the @SOS_Glasgow twitter feed!

For more information about this event or any other SOS initiative please contact mark.adams@glasgow.gov.uk

January 2022

Henry Wuga Film

Henry Wuga was born to a Jewish mother and a Catholic father in Nuremberg in 1924. In 1938, his parents were able to send him to Scotland with a children's transport and later in 1947, he could bring his mother, who had survived in hiding, to his home in Glasgow.

In this film Henry recounts his incredible story with a vivid account of his experiences of Nazi Germany as a young man in Germany and of his early years as a refugee in Scotland.

Early in the film Henry describes his life at school in Nuremberg in the 1930s and as an apprentice in a Baden Baden hotel. He gives an eyewitness account of Crystal Night (1938) in his hometown. All of which shaped what was to be the rest of his life.

Henry discusses the importance of his school life in both countries and about how welcome he felt in a Glasgow school. An experience which developed his love for the city of Glasgow, a city which never displayed any prejudice towards him.

As a refugee himself Henry is uniquely placed to describe how that experience was and how it compares to the lives of refugees before him and in the modern day.

This film is being released as part of Glasgow City Council Education Services Holocaust Memorial (HMD) commemorations of January 2022. The theme of HMD 2022 is "One Day" and during the film we encourage the viewer to explore the significant "One Day" experiences both in Henry's life but also in the lives of the viewer.