This week Alsop High School received five special visitors as part of the FAITH 2017 initiative. Five #PilgrimEd Teddies will be spending the next forty days at Alsop and partner primary schools.

On Monday 27th February 2017 ten Alsop students had the pleasure of visiting the Eden Valley near Penrith, Cumbria. Students visited Temple Sowerby CE Primary School, a delightful village school with 55 students. During the visit Mr Peter Bull, Co-ordinator of FAITH 2017 led the school assembly and spoke about #PilgrimEd and the 40 Acts of Kindness Initiative. As part of the assembly Alsop students led the school children into the yard. Here Alsop Young Leaders played drums as 40 balloons were released to start 40 Acts of Kindness.

Mr Bull comments:

“It was lovely to take our students away from their urban setting and watch them interact and engage school children in a rural environment.”

The young people returned to the tiny school hall where the school children handed over their treasured school teddies to begin #PilgrimEd.

One school in Milburn has only 8 pupils. Three reception children from Warcop CE School handed over Warcop Bear who was dressed in his own school jumper.

These #PilgrimEd bears are part of our FAITH 2017 initiative. They will be travelling around Liverpool primary schools and meeting lots of different people.

They will visit places of worship including churches, a mosque and a synagogue. They will interview people. One will be spending a week with Merseyside Police. One will spend some time at King David Primary School.

During the visit to Cumbria the students also visited a church which dates back to Saxon times. The visit concluded with a visit to Abbotts Lodge Dairy Farm. Here the young people sampled delicious home-made ice cream made fresh from the farm.

#PilgrimEd is part of the FAITH 2017 initiative. Schools in North Liverpool have pledged to work together for the common good and encourage collaboration between people of different faiths and cultures.

The faith based initiative will be delivered in partnership with Together for the Common Good, Liverpool SACRE, the Archbishop of York Youth Trust, Liverpool Diocese, churches of all denominations, fellow faith traditions and community groups

'FAITH 2017: Working Together for the Common Good' will see schools creatively engaging with students from partner primaries, secondary schools and local families/residents to generate shared learning experiences. This will promote inter-faith dialogue and foster mutual friendship and respect among young people and families. The initiative will bring together some of the leading thinkers and speakers on the common good from across the Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions to focus on how the Common Good can be built. The themes of social justice and social action will underpin this important work.

FAITH 2017 aims to empower young people with skills that will enable them to take responsibility and live compassionately in a diverse society. Young people will be encouraged to actively listen to each other, without prejudice and discover common values and work together. FAITH 2017 will establish and develop relationships between faiths, between communities and between individuals that lead to positive action. The aim is for young people to a dream of a better future and equip them with the skills to take an active role in their communities.