Alsop connects with Italian teachers
by Educate Magazine December 8, 2017 · All News / Secondary School News
During the summer a group of twelve Italian teachers visited Alsop High School to learn more about the schools award winning FAITH 17 initiative. The teachers visited Liverpool to hear about the Liverpool story of ecumenism, social justice and the commitment to build the “Common Good.”
During the visit Alsop presented the teachers, led by Mrs Franca Gambari, with a “Liverpool Candle of HOPE”, to symbolise the partnership emerging between Italian schools and Alsop.
The “Liverpool Candle of HOPE” will now begin to tour Italian schools as a symbol of the partnership emerging between Italian schools, Alsop High School and their partner primary schools.
Mrs Gambari said: “The red candle has a group of people holding hands. We now call it the ‘Liverpool Candle’. We are delighted to tell you that it is now travelling across Italy where schools and teachers are being invited to book a candle stop and share stories of their “Common Good” projects.”
The visit touched the hearts of Mrs Gambari and her and colleagues. On returning to their Italian schools they began sharing the enthusiasm and ideas with fellow teachers. They began looking at ways they could work together to raise awareness of the common good in their schools.
During 2018 the teachers hope to move forward with a project entitled “Together 2018: Together in School; In the Family; In Society; In Faith”. The Italians also plan to keep in touch with Liverpool counterparts, as well as extending an invitation to Italian colleagues, local authorities, associations, schools and cultural organisations to build “The Common Good” together.
Mrs Jenny Sinclair, director of Together for the Common Good said: “It is a great delight to hear that this partnership is flourishing and young people are being encouraged to take responsibility, build community and work together across their differences.
“The Faith 2017 initiative has successfully demonstrated how a school like Alsop High School, can be a force for the common good, and that the success of the approach used in Liverpool is being applied further afield”.
