We have recently been awarded a grant of £30,000 from the Fore Foundation to develop a new primary education resource. The Key Stage 2 resource will be developed to challenge prejudicial and intolerant language and behaviours being displayed by younger and younger pupils in school. Last year we were inundated with primary schools requesting support with resources along the lines of the S.O.P.H.I.E. workshop we offer to older pupils. This new resource will show that it is great that we are all different and have our own thoughts and opinions,  but we do need to be respectful to each other. We’d love any primary teachers to let us know more about prejudicial or intolerant language and behaviours they are currently seeing in school. Thanks to the Fore Foundation for the brilliant opportunity to develop this much-needed resource.

The Sophie Lancaster Foundation work with young people to change mindset about difference. We challenge the prejudicial language and behaviours that they use and display, particularly targeted at people who they think are different to them. We particularly focus on the language and behaviours that are displayed toward people from alternative subcultures. Our work, however, challenges all prejudice and intolerance and creates powerful learning opportunities for educational professionals to tackle what can be difficult conversations about difference, in a sensitive and supported way.

We currently deliver a successful secondary S.O.P.H.I.E. resource which is designed to challenge intolerant and prejudicial language and mindset. We understand that these behaviours are becoming more and more prevalent in primary schools and want to create a Key Stage 2 resource so we can start these conversations about difference earlier. We have recently been awarded a grant from the Fore Foundation to help us create this resource.

We would like to understand more about that prejudicial language and behaviours that school staff are finding challenging to deal with or are gaining traction in primary schools. We would also appreciate your thoughts on how social media is affecting the issue. Write as much, or as little, as you like. We genuinely appreciate any insight you can bring to our resource development.

Thank you.

Permanent Contract

35 hours per week

Haslingden, Lancashire, with national travel

£30,000 – £35,000 a year

We’re looking for an Education and Engagement Manager to bring our inspiring message of tolerance and respect to a wider audience.

The role

You’ll tell the story of Sophie Lancaster to diverse audiences, bringing the powerful and emotionally challenging subject matter to life, to demonstrate the importance of tolerance and understanding. You will develop and deliver engaging content and learning resources that support positive learning outcomes for these audiences. With a strategic vision, you will build connections and credibility with senior leaders and policy makers in education. As the face of our organisation, you’ll be a confident communicator and be comfortable acting as a spokesperson online and to the media.

A champion of subcultural identity, you’ll ensure that we are always highly visible within alternative and wider communities. Whether it’s on social media, our website or in person at events and festivals, you’ll ensure we deliver our message in an engaging way that grows audiences and attracts supporters and donors.

You will relish being part of a team that support each other with a busy and diverse workload. You may be hands-on, staffing a stall at a freshers’ fair or presenting to senior police officers but will also have a more strategic role, for example, meeting the Head of a school trust to discuss the support we can provide across the wider curriculum.

About you

You may well be from an alternative subculture yourself, but at the very least you’ll be able to understand and empathise with subcultural groups and champion cultural difference.

Delivering workshops and presentations that inspire diverse audiences and challenge perceptions, you’ll need to be an accomplished and engaging public speaker. You’ll be a skilled creator of educational content, producing quality resources that embed our message of respect and tolerance right across the curriculum. You will also be an adept organiser and administrator, able to manage a diary packed with festivals and other events that you’ll attend. Driving the company vehicle and occasional overnight stays are necessary.

Most importantly, you’ll be an energetic, positive personality, able to build connections with communities and supporters as an ambassador for the Sophie Lancaster Foundation and the values we represent.

Applying

Please download the Role Requirements (or email enquiries@sophielancasterfoundation.com to request a copy). You can also email this address to arrange a telephone conversation about the role with Alison Vincent, SLF Chief Executive.

CVs MUST be accompanied by a personal statement, showing how you fulfil the Role Requirements; and should be emailed to enquiries@sophielancasterfoundation.com by 10.00pm on the 26 January 2025. Interviews will be held week commencing 27th January immediately after shortlisting.

We champion the value of difference and equality and celebrate a diverse and inclusive workforce. If you are disabled and have the skills and the experience to do the job, then let us know if you require adjustments through your journey with us. The ability to drive is essential in order to access locations inaccessible by public transport as is the handling and carrying of presentation displays and resources.

Safeguarding

In the process of recruitment, the Sophie Lancaster Foundation implement actions including criminal record checks to ensure children and vulnerable people are safeguarded and abuse is prevented. Successful candidates will require an Enhanced DBS Check.

Anti-Bullying Week takes place from the 11th to 15th November 2024, organised in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by the Anti-Bullying Alliance. This Anti-Bullying Week, we are encourage all to choose respect and lead by example to help others choose kindness instead of bullying. Respect and kindness isn’t something we should just practice at school, but something we should practice day to day, even if we disagree with someone. Just because we may disagree with someone, this doesn’t give us permission to be disrespectful towards them. Children, young people and adults need to work together to empower one another to choose respect, not bullying.

Both the Primary and Secondary resources contain an assembly presentation and accompanying brochure, covering respect, bullying and how to choose respect. Please feel free to download and if you do use our resource, please let us know by using the hashtag #WeAreSophie

Download the resources by filling out the quick form below. Once completed, options to download the primary and secondary school resources will appear.

His Honour Anthony Russell QC, who presided over Sophie’s murder trial in 2008, passed away last summer and left a legacy of £5000 to the Sophie Lancaster Foundation in his will. When Sylvia died in 2022, we had some very thoughtful correspondence from Judge Russell, which included his memories of Sylvia and the trial, and which he gave us his permission to publish. Sylvia was forever grateful to Judge Russell for recognising Sophie’s murder as a hate crime and sentencing accordingly. He stated very clearly that no change in the law was needed to recognise alternative subculture hate crime and this recognition of an unmonitored strand of hate crime meant the world to Sylvia. Judge Russell’s legacy reflects his belief in the work that we do and we are honoured to have been remembered in this way.

There’s no more fitting way to end this than with the tribute Judge Russell wrote about Sylvia and we have included it again today. His personal qualities shine through in his writing. We owe him our thanks for so much. May he rest in peace.

We have HUGE news to share with you. We are delighted to tell you that we have been awarded a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund of £258,928. This funding will be spread over three years and will be used to tackle the main issues emerging from last year’s alternative subculture hate crime survey.

The survey delivered some shocking statistics:

· 73% of alternative subculture hate crime goes unreported

· 56% of respondents had been physically attacked

· 87% of respondents had been threatened or harassed

· 71% of respondents had been verbally abused

· 27% of respondents said that their experiences of hate crime had made them feel suicidal

The lottery bid was created in response to the survey and aims to deliver game-changing improvements for the alternative community with regard to their experiences of hate crime.

The project will improve signposting to hate crime reporting, explain the hate crime laws so people are empowered and better understand their rights, and improve the training that police and other justice agencies receive so that alternative subculture hate crime is recognised. This will also contribute to giving people who do report hate crime, a more satisfactory experience.

Part of the project is to tell the stories of alternative people, celebrating the culture, the music and the scene. It also aims to help people find community – particularly those who are isolated because of prejudice or intolerance. We can’t tell you how much this means to us and are so grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund for supporting this vital work.

Also, thanks to you. Thank you to everyone who completed the hate crime survey, who share their stories with us at festivals and events, who phone and email after a hate crime to ask for support and honour us with their confidence. This is for all of you. We want you to feel that this is your project and is there to make life better for you. We will work with you so you can help shape this work and we will include multiple opportunities for you to get involved.

We can make positive change together.

Let us Stamp Out Prejudice, Hatred and Intolerance, Everywhere. #WeAreSophie #NationalLotteryCommunityFund

You can read the findings of the full Alternative Subculture Hate Crime Survey and read the Sophie Lancaster Foundation Commentary, which outlines the background to the survey and our commitment to do all we can to change the situation, here:

The Sophie Lancaster Foundation is proud to launch another FREE National Hate Crime Awareness Week school resource!

National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2024 takes place from the 12th to 19th October, starting a national campaign to bring people together across the UK to advocate against all forms of hate crime and make communities a safer place to be.

The resource contains an assembly presentation and accompanying brochure for both Primary and Secondary schools, covering all angles of hate crime, hate incidents, reporting hate and hateful behaviours in and around school. Please feel free to download and if you do use our resource, please let us know by using the hashtag #WeAreSophie

Attending Bloodstock this year? Well, thanks to Darren from Metal Thread, we have another incredible, bespoke SOPHIE battle jacket to give away in our raffle!

We are so grateful for Darren’s support and when we were told about the jackets earlier this year we were very excited to receive them… but even we didn’t expect just how beautiful they would be! The time, effort and love that’s gone into creating them, and the Sophie patch on the back, is testament to the incredible community we’re so proud to be part of.

The second jacket will be a raffle prize at Bloodstock Festival, so make sure you come over to the tent, say hello, and get your tickets!

Thanks again to Darren for all your hard work 🖤

You can read more about Metal Thread on their website: https://metalthread.uk/ and we implore you to read the wonderful words they’ve written about the Foundation on their “Metal Gives Back” page.

#wearesophie

We’ve just launched our new range of merchandise, and it’s all available to pre-order from our online store now – until the 2nd June.

This exciting new range includes a new gradient for the Weirdo Mosher Freak tees, hoodies and vests, and also a whole new range for 2024, that features the S.O.P.H.I.E logo in red on black. What really sets of the hoodie in this new selection is our motto, “stamp out prejudice, hatred and intolerance everywhere,” that’s printed on the sleeve.

After the popularity of our gradient Weirdo Mosher Freak range last year, we’ve decided to bring it back for 2024. This time however, with a few updates! The first of which is an updated colourway, turquoise into purple, the second is an updated chest print; our WMF branding with The Sophie Lancaster Foundation written in a circle around it.

I’m sure you’ll agree it’s really eye-catching, and we can’t wait for you to see it in person!

To complete the new range of red-on-black merchandise, there’s also a new t-shirt, a new vest and a brand new slouch beanie! The beanie is an extra comfy fit with the S.O.P.H.I.E logo embroidered on the front.

Take a look!

All of this merchandise will be available at Download Festival and Bloodstock Festival this year. Shipping for the pre-orders will begin on the 12 June 2024. We would like to thank you all in advance for you support, whether you show that through a pre-order or in-person at a festival, it means the world to us and allows us to continue our vital work.

To pre-order the new merchandise, please visit: https://sophielancasterfoundation.backstreetmerch.com/

#wearesophie

We often receive many awesome photos of our lovely supporters from all over the world, wearing our merchandise and wristbands. So, we thought it would be a great chance to show the world what an incredible, powerful and diverse community this is by highlighting a photograph each week 🖤😍 Now… we are really tempted, as a play on our Weirdo Mosher Freak range, to call it “Freak Of The Week”… do we have any objections (because we think it’s brilliant 😂)?

Anyway, send in your snaps! Let’s see those tees, hoodies, vests, hats, all of it 🙋🏻‍♀️ #wearesophie

By sending us a photo, you’re giving permission for us to share it on our social media platforms. Please send your photos to our Facebook page as a comment on the corresponding post.

Greater Manchester Hate Crime Awareness Week takes place from the 5th to the 9th of February is recognised each year by the ten boroughs that make up the Greater Manchester County, promoting a message of a county that is ‘Too Great for Hate’. Manchester is one of the most diverse cities in the UK with almost 200 languages spoken in the city; it is truly multi-ethnic, multi-faith, multicultural and multilingual. However, in 2023, 10,424 hate crimes were reported across all boroughs in the Greater Manchester County and across all five strands of hate. Though this has fallen by 367 from 2022, the number of hate crimes being committed is 10,424 too many. Many hate crimes still go unreported and hate crimes against alternative subcultures are not recorded within those figures. It is time to take a stand against hate crime in Greater Manchester.

The secondary Greater Manchester Hate Crime Awareness Week resource contains a brochure and presentation covering the strands of hate, unmonitored strands, the impact of hate and how we can all make a stand. Please feel free to download and if you do use our resource, please let us know by using the hashtag #WeAreSophie