Interfaith Week aims to strengthen good interfaith relations, between people of religious and non-religious belief. Celebrating and building on the contribution which members of different faith and non-faith communities make to their neighbourhoods and wider society is central to these aims. This year’s Interfaith Week runs from the 15th – 21st November, and is a great opportunity for teachers to enhance the delivery of RE in their schools and among their all of their pupils, colleagues and the wider community. Consequently, this webinar will: Share a range of ideas for Interfaith Week (IFW): 15th – 21st November 2015 Understand how IFW focused RE and citizenship lessons can: Benefit your pupils when they engage with interfaith activities; Embed Fundamental British Values of tolerance and mutual respect within your school.

1. Webinar Series 2015
Getting ready for
Interfaith Week 2015
How to organise interfaith activities to deepen
learning in RE and citizenship during IFW
15th
– 21st
November 2015
4.00pm - 4.45pm
Thursday 22nd
October 2015
http://www.interfaithexplorers.com/webinars

2. www.interfaithexplorers.com
• Supported by UNESCO
• Helps pupils understand the world around them & respect
cultural and religious diversity
• Offers high quality cross-curricula resources to use with
pupils at Key Stage 2 and those embarking on their Key
Stage 3 transition
• Supports core personal and social skills development as
well as self-directed, exploratory learning
• Promotes universal core values & the development of
ethical thinking
• Designed to compliment RE and PSHE teaching, alongside
citizenship education

3. Webinars
• Support teachers in their work around
interfaith dialogue and RE; as well as PSHE
and Citizenship learning in schools
• Offers a space for teachers to come
together and think about issues arising from
classroom practice in these areas

4. Webinar Presenter
• Claire Clinton
o An experienced teacher within EYFS, Primary and
Secondary education
o She has over 20 years of classroom experience,
and 16 years of advisory work at a national and
local level
o For the past 9-years has been the Religious
Education Advisor for the London Borough of
Newham

5. Session objectives
• Share a range of ideas for Interfaith Week
(IFW): 15th
– 21st
November 2015
• Understand how IFW focused RE and
citizenship lessons can:
o Benefit your pupils when they engage with
interfaith activities;
o Embed Fundamental British Values of tolerance
and mutual respect within your school.

6. IFW 2015: using stories (1)
• Stories allow us to find common messages shared
by humanity, shared values;
• Keeping back the meaning of a story and allowing
children and young people to speculate on the
meaning/s for themselves gives opportunity for high
quality learning;
• Allows pupil’s to learn from one another’s
cultural/religious heritage.

7. IFW 2015: using stories (2)
• Stories available via www.interfaithexplorers.com
include:
o Abraham
o The Rabbi and the Cow
o The Good Samaritan
o The Famous Donkey Story
• Read the story to your pupils and ask them:
o To find hidden meaning/s in the story (which you can
display as a list to the rest of the class)
o What questions would be interesting to discuss from these
ideas

8. IFW 2015: using stories (3)
• Good Samaritan Story example:
• Pupils might say the stories hidden meaning are:
o Help strangers
o Always find time for others
o Don’t walk by & always get help
• Get pupils to think of a good discussion question
from these ideas:
o Why are we sometimes too busy to help?
o What stops us from stopping?
o Should we always help strangers?
• Then have a full classroom discussion

9. IFW 2015: foods and festivals (1)
• Main Religious festivals in
November/December
• Hanukkah (Jewish)
• Diwali (Hindu, Sikh and Jain)
• Advent & Christmas
(Christian)
• Guru Nanak’s Birthday
(Sikh)
• Prophet Muhammad’s
birthday (Muslim)

10. IFW 2015: foods and festivals (2)
• Use worksheets available via www.interfaithexplorers.com
e.g. ‘Same, Similar and Different’ worksheet
• Use a link between different festivals – e.g. light,
birthday / significant dates
• Look at more than one as this helps aid
discussions about what they share
• Offer a different way into RE:
o Learn about a religious festival through the food
eaten
o Make food with pupils and get them to taste it

12. IFW 2015: patterns and designs
• Use worksheets available via www.interfaithexplorers.com
• Think of the way in which patterns are used in different
religions:
o Repeated patterns
o Calligraphy to form objects
• Ask pupils to:
o Think about what the patterns seek to show that is
central to a religion’s beliefs
o Design a symbol to represent Interfaith Week
o Design a shared space used by two different religions

13. IFW 2015: Philosophical thinking (1)
• Playful Ponders:
• Ask pupils to ponder whether they would prefer one
option or another: e.g. would you choose to have a
day where you can spend £1000 or a day where
everyone in your family, school community get on
with one another?
• Get pupils to choose to stand on one side of the
classroom or the other showing their choice
• Ask pupils to explain their choice
• After a few explanations see if any want to change
sides…

14. IFW 2015: Philosophical thinking (2)
• Using a concept line to discuss the topic of
peace:
More peaceful Less peaceful

15. Join up nationally
• Download
their poster
• Use some of
their
suggestions
to inspire you
• IFW:
15-22nd
Nov
www.interfaithnetwork.org

16. Top Tips
• Do one thing well if it is the first time you are
marking IFW this year - and then build on that
next year
• Have clear outcomes for your activity!
• Think about how can you share what you will do
with your wider school family (other teachers
/pupils / parents):
o Newsletter
o Sharing items during assemblies
o Can you invite local faith leaders to lead an
assembly?

17. Wrap up
Any questions?

18. Contact us
For further information about the webinar series and
how Interfaith Explorers can support you visit:
www.interfaithexplorers.com
or contact
Rokhsana Fiaz OBE
Chief Executive
Maimonides Interfaith Foundation
rokhsana@maimonides-foundation.org