On Friday 11th October, five Young Ambassador for RE teams journeyed down to London to take part in a day conference, coordinated by Sarah Smalley and Helen Harrison of the RE Council.
The day kicked off to a great start with various ice-breaker activities, as the YA teams got to know one another, after which Harriet Johnson from PR company 3:nine gave an excellent and engaging presentation on how PR can be used to promote RE.
Young Ambassadors were active in discussion, suggesting headlines to different news stories, and examining different aspects of public relations.
Today I learnt how to promote RE within the local community
I learnt how to use media and PR as a means of promoting RE
Helen Harrison, Vice Chair of the RE Council, led the afternoon sessions. The first part of this engaged students in how RE can contribute to community cohesion, at the levels of the school, the local community, and the whole of society.
RE helps you become an open-minded individual with a good understanding of others
RE is important for society, the community and for the school to function
RE gives people the knowledge to challenge prejudices and stereotypes. It helps encourage cohesion and celebrate diversity
During this time Hugo Whately, who assists the coordination of the YA scheme, spoke to the teachers, who gave positive and constructive feedback on the programme’s success over the past year.
The second afternoon session got YA students looking at how the scheme could be rolled out to other schools over the next year, as the pilot period drew to a close. Students also talked about the way that social media could be used to engage more schools, in a discussion session led by Sophie Agrotis, RE Council Office and Finance administrator. Both Young Ambassadors and their teachers were instrumental in the success of the day and came up with some inspiring suggestions as to how more schools can participate with their own Young Ambassador teams.
Overall, the day was a great success, which demonstrated the strong commitment that the RE Council and the Young Ambassadors have to promoting good quality religious education for every single pupil across the country.
Thanks to everyone involved.
It was such an interesting experience, and so good to finally meet the other RE Ambassadors – to see what they have done, and to express our own ideas!
Today was wonderful, I was inspired by the other students opinions and views.
It made me want to expand the Young Ambassadors community.