With the backdrop of an incredibly difficult start of the month of October, with the one-year anniversary of October 7th bringing memorial ceremonies and events marking the atrocities of that day and the subsequent war that has raged over the entire region, also came the recognition of the essential work of the Stand Up! Education Against Discrimination project in tackling hate crime – specifically Antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate – in British schools.
In London, the Stand Up! team attended the launch event for the ‘Shared Endeavour Fund 2024/25’. The fund has supported the Stand Up! project engaging with tens of thousands of Londoners over the last five years; at the launch event, Stand Up! received the ‘Outstanding Reach’ award, as the project that impacted the highest number of Londoners during the most challenging year in mainstream schools, with rates of antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate sky-rocketing as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.
The Shared Endeavour Fund is managed by the London Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and enables Stand Up! to meet new partners and network with other hate crime organisations, fostering strong relationships and learning from one another.
In its first month back in schools for the new academic year, the team visited seven different institutions, engaging students from Key Stages 3, 4, and 5, and reaching over 1,100 students. The workshops sparked challenging conversations, addressing topics such as the destigmatisation of ‘Zionism’ and the events leading to last summer’s race riots. These discussions were reflected in the adult training sessions we delivered to staff at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Additionally, Stand Up! collaborated with the Jewish Deaf Association to conduct a core anti-discrimination workshop for their senior citizen cohort, providing an exciting change of audience for our project coordinators.
Stand Up! has also been actively recruiting for this year’s Alan Senitt Upstanders Leadership Programme, conducting assemblies at JFS, Guru Nanak Sikh Academy, and Watford Boys Grammar School, all with positive uptake. This year’s schools-linking leadership programme will have ten schools participating and 100 year 10 students learning about interfaith and social action, with the aim to develop and deliver projects that truly impact their respective communities.
Towards the end of the month, the Stand Up! project manager Zaynab, contributed to a brilliant panel run by ‘Education Support’, which saw over 300 teachers from across the country learn about ‘Holding Difficult Conversations in the Classroom,’. The panel focused on how teachers can create respectful spaces to discuss the riots and the conflict in the Middle East. A recording of this incredible panel, which also featured Solutions not Sides and Education Support can be viewed here.
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