Leeds Jewish Free School’s Faith Weeks offers pupils interfaith understanding and religious literacy.
At Leeds Jewish Free School students don’t just learn about their own faith. They also explore the beliefs and practices of other religions.
As part of the school’s comprehensive Jewish life curriculum children receive lessons on Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and other major world faiths through the schools newly introduced Faith Weeks. The children learn through discussion, hands on activities, visits, and guest speakers in order to gain a broad understanding of diverse spiritual traditions.
“Our goal is to nurture students who are not just knowledgeable about Judaism but religiously literate overall,” says Charlie Kelsey, the school’s Executive Headteacher. “We want them to develop respect and appreciation for the rich diversity of religious expression around the world.”
The school’s interfaith approach through the Faith Weeks is especially notable given its Jewish faith school status. Many faith schools focus solely on teaching their own religion in depth, but Leeds Jewish Free School students explore the beliefs of other faiths with curiosity and intrigue. In addition to Jewish Life in the curriculum, the wider personal development curriculum incorporates lessons on world history, cultures and current events further exposing students to diverse global perspectives, school trips to houses of worship, and guest speaker visits from faith leaders reinforce these interdisciplinary learnings.
Leeds Jewish Free School is starting to offer a compelling model for how to foster interfaith understanding in a Jewish faith school. Its students are poised to become the religiously literate, global-minded, citizens of tomorrow.