The borough’s young people are involved in the process of building cohesion and preventing extremism both within and outside the formal education system.

We have set about building stronger communities, involving youth engagement by working with young people through projects such as:

iMuslim

iMuslim is a series of short films made by young people exploring the portrayal of Muslims in the media. The group of young Muslim film makers from Waltham Forest were involved in making the films, they helped recruit the film company and were then trained to storyboard, film, edit and animate the films.

» More on iMuslim

Swapping Cultures Project

In partnership with Minorities of Europe, Waltham Forest Council has developed the swapping cultures project in schools and colleges in the borough. The pilot run in schools in 2007 demonstrated how through art, drama and structured workshops young people could develop a greater understanding of other cultures in a fun and creative way. The Swapping Cultures Teachers Toolkit and CD made by the young people at Rush Croft Sports College is being rolled out to schools across the borough to be used to support the emerging duty to promote cohesion and citizenship.

» More on swapping cultures

Youth Independent Advisory Group (YIAG)

The YIAG is a group of 15 to 21 year olds from across the borough who works in partnership with the police and the Council to proactively identify safety issues in their community and to act as a sounding board on local and national policies.

A key part of the groups work to date has been devising and delivering stop and search training to new police recruits, demonstrating what makes a good search from a young person’s perspective. This mode of training is a first for the Metropolitan Police and represents a big step forward for our community.

Norlington Boys School

Norlington belongs to a community-based organisation called London Citizens campaigning on social justice issues. Norlington has an assertive mentoring campaign to remove barriers to learning and initiatives to address knife, gun, and gang issues.

Kelmscott School

One of the new Private Finance Initiative schools in the Borough, Kelmscott is a new and vibrant secondary school. The school has a reputation for a strong citizenship department and well-developed schemes of work including a wide range of resources and links.

They are doing great work on Who Do You Think You Are project and a lot of positive work around recycling; they are also planning a magazine run by the students for the community.

George Mitchell School

There is a great variety of student voice opportunities open to all. Such as fighting against bullying and making learning better initiatives where students observe lessons and offer constructive feedback to staff.

Frederick Bremer Secondary

This school is the Council’s first major project under the Building Schools for the future Programme.

There was extensive consultation about the new schools with students and this new holistic approach has successfully been used to establish student stance on matters such as International School Status. Cohesion has become integral to the evolution of the school.

Rush Croft Sports College

Rush Croft had a positive and ongoing experience of the Swapping Cultures project and has developed innovative work with new arrivals. They are also part of an exciting new community cohesion initiative, Values and Vision (Croydon, Staffordshire and Waltham Forest) which has brought students together in order to explore key aspects of community cohesion and encourage understanding and action to address issues of their choice.

Pastures Youth Centre

Pastures is a local authority run youth centre set in green spaces in the heart of Leytonstone, where groups such as; the Leyton Muslim and Community Centre, Young Women groups, Duke of Edinburgh and the Cricket Academy all meet.

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Contact

Safe and Strong Communities
Sycamore House
Waltham Forest Town Hall Complex
Forest Road
Walthamstow E17 4JF

Email communitysafety@walthamforest.gov.uk
Tel 020 8496 3000