On 22nd March a Year 9 class from our partner school BRA joined Year 9’s from St Malachy’s for a shared classroom event. It was an LLW lesson on prejudice and stereotyping which built on work the students had already undertaken in their own school.

After a hesitant start the young people soon got into the swing of things and participated actively in the ice breakers. The LLW lesson began with brainstorming session about what the young people understood by prejudice and stereotyping. Some very interesting and thoughtful responses resulted and the class started to mix and share opinions.

The students were then asked to ‘take the role’ of a marginalised person in society and they took part in an active learning ‘Giant Steps’ activity. This was a powerful reminder of the challenges which some people in our society face. Then the St Malachy’s students had the chance to share their iPad skills with their new friends. In small groups they were asked to identify problems faced by particular character from the previous exercise and to suggest possible solutions. This was then presented using Keynote or iMovie.

The BRA students joined us for breaktime when the group had the chance to mix in a less formal environment. After break each group presented their Keynote to the rest of the students in a carousel

The final activity was a ‘graffiti wall’ evaluation of the morning’s experiences and learning. There as some very positive feedback much of which focused on the new friendships which had been forged.

All of the students are looking forward to their next meeting which will be in BRA and will explore the themes of stereotyping and sectarianism further.