Hampshire County Council

SACRE Item 8

26 February 2008

Project on social cohesion in Hampshire

Report of the Director of Children's Services

1

Summary

1.1

This report provides a summary of the progress of the project to address social/community cohesion in Hampshire. The project has enabled the construction of a strategy for addressing social cohesion in relation to community diversity and conditions for effective learning of pupils in schools.

This project supports the following Hampshire County Council priorities:

1.2

"Making Hampshire safer and more secure for all" - by encouraging better and more informed relations between communities and institutions

"Maximising well-being" - by addressing common purpose amongst communities in Hampshire and its children

"Enhancing our quality of place" - through providing support for the positive recognition of minority communities and religious groups.

1.3

The decision supports the following Aims of the Children Act:

(Being healthy; Staying safe; Enjoying and achieving; Making a positive contribution; Economic well-being) by ensuring that social cohesion is addressed in Hampshire and its neighbouring communities to enhance the safety of environments, positive relations between different groups, achievement and enjoyment of children in schools and their larger learning, improving the prospect of economic well-being for minorities of different faiths.

2

Recommendations

That:

SACRE notes the report and endorses the continued developments of the Social Cohesion project and the planned conference.

3

Background

3.1

The project is now developing well. In the North of the county pupils from a secondary school and year 6 pupils from one of its feeder primary schools have participated in joint meetings and activities in relation to "difference" within their own experience and within their local communities. Pupils in both those schools represent broad ethnic, religious and cultural diversity in the area. Pupils in those schools are preparing to present their reports on their activities and findings at the conference on 27 March 2008.

3.2

South of the county pilot. A primary and a secondary school has been twinned with schools in Southampton with diverse ethnic / religious and cultural intake and teachers of the participating schools have met and planned the development of the project. Pupils have been involved in an enquiry based module constructed to the Living Difference cycle of learning model. The participating schools have met together in order to learn from each other and are preparing a presentation of their experiences for the conference in March.

3.3

Links have been forged with the Hampshire Record Office and pupils in the north and south of the county have been enabled to explore "difference" using archive material and investigate the reasons for and the effects of migration in Hampshire in the past.

3.4

A conference is planned for 27 March 2008 at which participating schools, faith community representatives, SACRE members, Hampshire head teachers and county councillors have been invited to hear about the findings and share responses to the project..

LINK(S) TO CORPORATE STRATEGY

YES

NO

Hampshire safer and more secure for all

_

Maximising well-being

_

Enhancing our quality of place

_

This proposal does not link to the Corporate Strategy but, nevertheless, requires a decision because: