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Primary Education

The Sophie Lancaster Foundation has a wealth of experience in working with primary schools. Our expertise is in creating safe spaces where children can explore issues about difference and how we all have a tendency to form opinions based on how people look.

Key themes in our work include how to respect equality and diversity in relationships; different groups and communities; physical, mental and emotional wellbeing; how to recognise and manage emotions; respect for self and others; and rights and responsibilities. Our resources contribute to bullying prevention strategies and managing transition to secondary school.

Resources

The S.O.P.H.I.E. Workshop (Year 6 only)

Everyone should be free to live their life without suffering prejudice or intolerance based on who they are, what they believe, or how they look. Our enjoyable interactive workshop challenges prejudice and stereotypes and helps to positively inform young people’s views on difference. Questioning techniques help students develop greater critical thinking skills and re-evaluate their feelings about difference and their reaction to it.

The interactive groupwork encourages speaking, listening and teamwork. The Sophie card resource used in the workshop encourages exploration of prejudice and discrimination and covers all strands of equality and diversity including alternative subcultures.

Please do not share Sophie’s story with pupils in advance of the workshop.

Activity: Interactive workshop and a short, age-appropriate presentation about Sophie.

Class Size: Maximum 35 students. Pupils work in groups of 5 at tables.

Time: 60 to 90 minutes

Training Delivery: In person or virtually using Microsoft Teams.

Cost

Digital delivery:
1 session £400
2 Sessions £550
3 Sessions £700
4 Sessions £850

In house delivery:
1 session £450 *
2 Sessions £600*
3 Sessions £750*
4 Sessions £900*

*Plus Travel

Train the Trainer – Sophie Workshop

The Foundation organises national one day training events to enable teachers and youth workers to deliver the Sophie workshop in their own organisations. Each delegate receives a boxed set of the SOPHIE resource. Lunch and refreshments are provided.

We can also come into schools and youth organisations and deliver the training in-house to your staff.

Please use the enquiry/booking form below to register an interest and we will let you know of forthcoming events as soon as they are scheduled.

Train the Trainer - Primary Resource Pack Key Stage 2 (Years 3-6)

Teachers can attend a one day training course to learn how to deliver our interactive and thought provoking P.S.H.E resource. Training to use this resource is essential and so the package is only available to participants who attend one of our training days.

Following the training, teachers can deliver the resource in school, either as a six week P.S.H.E. package or use it to provide a variety of stand-alone, one hour sessions. The activities are designed to challenge common preconceptions and enable pupils to explore their values and beliefs and where they originate from, in a safe environment.

Subcultures and stereotypes are explored through character cards, task cards, images, vocabulary, videos, music, discussion, creative writing/artwork, role play and physical transformation. The content and structure enable a wide range of issue-based topics to be explored, including how to respect equality and diversity in relationships; physical, mental and emotional well-being; how to recognise and manage emotions within a range of relationships; respect for self and others; and rights and responsibilities.

The sessions support the development of critical thinking skills, empathy, increased awareness and understanding of difference and diversity, the consequences of actions for self and others and a deeper knowledge of cultural issues in the wider world.

The Foundation organises national one day training events to enable teachers to deliver the Primary Resource Pack in their own organisations. Lunch and refreshments are provided and delegates receive a full resource to take back to school. Delegates can purchase extra copies of the resource if needed.

We can also come into schools and deliver the training in-house to your staff.

Please use the enquiry/booking form below to register an interest and we will let you know of forthcoming events as soon as they are scheduled.

The sessions that you put on for year 6 were just what were needed at our school and I can't thank you enough for adapting a secondary workshop for the Y6 classes - especially since time is an issue at the end of the year and we felt we needed to do something to get through to a few children before they left us. I really do feel that the tasks, discussions arising from them and messages that were continually reinforced were ideal and equally effective at addressing prejudices towards all groups and individuals, not just hate crimes targeted at the goth/punk subculture. The fact that even though Sophie and Rob's lifestyle and culture wasn't specifically one that we at school identified as 'targeted' in the area, actually made it more effective as it did not directly relate to any of the trouble that some of the children participating have been involved with. This meant that no child was left feeling too guilty or embarrassed, but plenty were left with enough to reflect on.

The workshop was just the right length and the delivery was pitched just right for the age of the children. You both did a great job with that. I know that on the day, the first class were more vocal with their feelings at the end of the session but in my opinion - the actions of the second class on the following day actually showed a better impact. For the first time all year, children spoke up about a dominant child to admit what he had done and that they didn't appreciate that in their class. It might not sound like much but for that class in particular-this is ground-breaking and I just wish that I could have had you in sooner.

Best wishes for continuing with your work - I sincerely hope that you are able to offer the same workshop to more Y6 classes. I'd definitely recommend it and can't thank you enough.
Salma Khan
St Matthew’s C of E Primary School