Today, after much anticipation, we officially launched the S.O.P.H.I.E educational game at Sophie Lancaster’s old high school, Haslingden High School, Lancashire.
This morning saw us zooming across the Pennines to greet Sylvia Lancaster, a journalist from The Sun newspaper and a gaggle of excited students, and it was a huge day for Sylvia after months of planning, designing and creating it was finally time to put the game to the test and take it into schools.
Sylvia started the session by talking with the students about the charity’s work, its aims and objectives and a little about Sophie and what the charity has achieved so far.
The game is made up of 30 cards, which represent many common ethnic, religious, social groups and subcultures. The students, split into groups of three, were asked to pick a selection of five characters based only on appearances. After 10 minutes Sylvia then asked the groups to explain the reasons behind their choices and she was overwhelmed by the response.
“It was so fantastic to see the students engaging with the game and they came up with some really intelligent and insightful reasons behind their choices. It was amazing to see the game working, provoking discussion and keeping the students entertained. Playing the film Dark Angel after the discussions was hugely and made me realise how far the charity has come. I felt privileged to launch the game with those wonderful students at the school that Sophie actually attended and I look forward to going back and holding a follow up session very soon.”
Sylvia is now looking forward to taking the game into schools across the country with the hope that it will one day be included in secondary curriculum to challenge and educate young peoples perceptions of subcultures and encourage them to help Stamp Out Prejudice Hatred and Intolerance Everywhere.
Posted by Phoebe Findley.