The Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara in Bradford kicked off the new year by holding an SFI training event on safeguarding and child protection on the 5th of January.
The event served two important purposes – providing safeguarding training to teachers at supplementary schools and building bridges between faith communities in the local Bradford area.
The training covered the important topics of child protection, anti-bullying measures, internet safety and managing classroom behaviour.
The event was uniquely able to achieve both of these aims at once, as while training for teachers at supplementary schools most often takes place in their own place of worship, the Gurdwara invited teachers of all faiths to attend the Gurdwara. The hospitality fo the Gurdwara therefore allowed teachers from Buddhist, Christian, Hindu and Muslim faiths to build bridges and strengthen interfaith relations in the local community.
The opportunity for building interfaith relations with a wide network of teachers in the local community was also made possible by the great turnout at the event – with around 100 people in attendance. Around 95% of the teachers who attended the training event were female – giving the opportunity for inter-faith female empowerment.