From Liverpool with Love

Alsop High School in Liverpool continues to develop its partnership with a group of Italian teachers who in 2017, visited Alsop High School to learn more about their award winning Hope Initiative.

During the visit the Italian teachers learnt more about strategies used by the Liverpool school to build character and encourage young people to take responsibility.

The school has now produced a video extending its link to Italy, an Advent Hope Act of Collective Worship with Italian subtitles. The video focusing on the ‘Liverpool Candle of HOPE’ is now being shown in schools around Italy, which has been distributed by Mrs Franca Gambari, a teacher from Modena, Northern Italy.

Mrs Gambari wrote to the school saying: “Dear friends at Alsop, my colleagues and I are receiving this film with Italian subtitles as a real Christmas gift. We wish to send our thanks and best wishes to all at Alsop High School. We look forward to showing the film to Italian schoolchildren.”

The film has also been well received by colleagues in schools across Liverpool City Region and has been posted on the SPCK assemblies website.

Mr Peter Bull, head of Religious Education said: “It was an absolute pleasure to share this film with these amazing group of teachers. During lockdown, Franca has been in touch providing updates on the situation in Lombardy. Once normality returns to hope to meet again to share our work and our passion for social justice.”

The Advent film with Italian subtitles is now available and can be downloaded at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Ht6Foz-L8

Many of the Year 8 pupils from one of the schools in Italy who saw the video wrote to Alsop saying: “Our teacher is connected to Liverpool Alsop High School, England. It is a school where our teacher Franca was in visit for a while. It is a very large school, very beautiful and the students are very kind.

Another pupil added: “We saw a video that the English students from this school sent us. It’s a religious video, in English with Italian subtitles, and it’s beautiful. The kids are 10 or 11 and are getting ready for Christmas. We thank them for sending us that video. We liked their presentation.”

Also, “Our teacher Franca explained to us that she had been given this candle in 2017. Franca and other teachers have made it tour all over Italy, in many Italian schools. After a year, in summer 2018, our teacher Franca brought the candle back Liverpool Alsop High School and handed it to Professor Peter Bull.”

“When they sent us the video, they had gone to a church to tell us how they celebrate the Christmas holidays. They said that Jesus is very important to them. They celebrate Christmas differently from us, in a more religious way. We spend Christmas between: gifts, parties, Christmas trees, snow and many snowmen. Instead, they celebrate it with the birth of Jesus. They celebrate it with candles and prayers, and we like prayers.”

Finally: “Yes, we really have to thank the children and teachers of ‘Liverpool Alsop High School. Who knows if one day we will be able to meet them and maybe visit Alsop High School. Meanwhile, the red candle will hold us all together – as always Franca says – for ‘The Common Good’.”