SOPHIE Tolerance Game Launches at London School

Entering the next phase of the foundations success

Almost four years ago, Sophie Lancaster, and her boyfriend, Rob Maltby, were savagely beaten by a gang of youths, simply because they chose to dress ‘differently’. Sophie died from her injuries.

Following Sophie’s death, her mother, Sylvia, set up the Sophie Lancaster Foundation with one aim to: Stamp Out Prejudice, Hatred and Intolerance, Everywhere.

Propaganda and Illamasqua has worked closely with charity since its infancy and now with the help of client, Huthwaite International, an educational game has been developed to show young people how to be more tolerant and open minded to accept people, despite lifestyle or appearance.

The game will launch initially as a pilot scheme today, 8th July, at Kidbrooke Secondary School, Greenwich, London, where Sylvia will guest host a game session. The ultimate aim for the game is for it to be widely used by teachers in PSE or RE classes throughout the nation on a long-term basis.

30 game cards represent many common ethnic, religious, social groups and subcultures; players are set a series of tasks, which challenge preconceptions and encourage development in problem solving and team working skills.

Sylvia Lancaster, Sophie’s mother, who has pioneered and worked towards launching this scheme since Sophie death, says: “To teach young people to be tolerant of others is giving them a crucial skill that will enable them to get on in life. Working many years as a youth worker has taught me that one of the biggest stumbling blocks for young people with aspirations is their inability to understand or relate to people from different walks of life. Our game should show them simple techniques to help them break through this barrier.”

Sylvia continues: “This game has been my dream since 2007, and it is one of the key things we, as a charity, can do to ensure my daughter didn’t die in vain. If this scheme can make young people stop and think twice about judging others on appearance that will be a massive accomplishment for our society.”

Sandeep Phagura, Curriculum Team Leader for Personal Development, Kidbrooke Secondary School, said: “We are delighted to take part in this project. We feel that this is a very important issue and want to promote the need for respecting diversity and differences amongst people, no matter who they are or what they dress like. The class involved are very excited about being part of piloting the game and I hope that other schools will also use this game and opportunity to educate young people today within their curriculum.”

You can find out further information about the charity and the game here

And find out more about our work with SOPHIE here