Young citizens get to say who they are

8:09pm Saturday 21st June 2008

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Bradford has been chosen to launch the UK’s first national identity week among children and young people – seven years after the city was the subject of race riots.

A series of events running throughout the district from Monday will explore the themes of identity, diversity and citizenship as part of Who Do We Think We Are? week.

Schools minister Jim Knight will officially launch the initiative during a visit to three exhibitions at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery created by Bradford schoolchildren.

Themed as Many Voices, Many Faces and the Garden Gallery, the exhibitions aim to reflect the objectives of the week by giving children’s views of what the issue of identity means to them.

The campaign is being supported by the Schools Linking Network (SLN), a Bradford project which was rolled out nationally last year after Government acclaim for its “trail-blazing” work linking schools from different areas of the district.

The SLN has now extended its remit to bring schools together from across the UK and provides training and guidance for teachers and local authority advisors working to bring greater community cohesion into the classroom.

Further events throughout the week will include a schools’ Question Time with students from Bradford, Cambridgeshire, Manchester and North Yorkshire working together on a “Model United Nations Conference”, chaired by Department for Children, Schools and Families adviser Sir Keith Ajegbo on Friday.

Events organised as part of the week will also take place throughout the country.

Bradford College principal and chief executive Michele Sutton will also host a debate at the college on Wednesday which will see young people discuss what it means to be British. The event is scheduled to be filmed for the BBC’s Panorama programme.

Angie Kotler, strategic manager for SLN, said: “This is an incredibly exciting week for all of us.

“Who Do We Think We Are? reinforces so much of what the Schools Linking Network facilitates on a daily basis and aims to encourage debate and interest in what identity actually means.

“By working with students throughout this awareness week and through our ongoing schools linking projects and encouraging them to understand, support and nurture each other – whatever their backgrounds or beliefs – we are developing a cohesive environment that brings a more connected and tolerant society for everyone to learn from and enjoy.”

Councillor Colin Gill, Bradford Council’s executive member for services to children and young people, said: “It is fantastic that Bradford has been selected to launch the new Who Do We Think We Are? pilot citizenship programme.

“The new educational programme will give the young people in our villages, towns and city the opportunity to explore their own identities while also learning about their communities and national identities.

“Bradford is a richly diverse district and this programme will help to further enhance the work we are doing to bring different communities together and celebrate different cultures, roots and build new links and friendships.”