Dame Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England, spent the day in the Diocese of Leicester on Wednesday (5 February) visiting children in a local Church of England school and finding out about the significant interfaith work going on in the city.
Accompanied by Bishop Martyn, Dame Rachel spent the morning at Hope Hamilton Primary School, where she was introduced to head teacher, Fiona Brooks, LearnAt trust leaders, and colleagues from the diocese.
With championing children’s voices and needs at the forefront of her work, Dame Rachel took time getting to know the pupils during a tour of the school, a Bishop’s listening exercise around what they ‘value in a good leader’, and a roundtable discussion with members of the School Council to talk about issues affecting them and other children in Leicester.
The children shared their thoughts and feelings on what could be done to make people’s lives better, showing concern for the homeless and hungry, the environment and cost of living, and speaking with kindness and wisdom while highlighting their hopes and fears.
Dame Rachel said: “This is an ambitious generation that wants to succeed in life, but that also wants to play its part in improving the world around them. They need us, as adults, to listen to them and ensure they get the right help to fulfil their true potential.”
Indeed, the work of the Children’s Commissioner is driven by what children tell her is most important to them.
With similar ambitions to give children a voice and empower, encourage and engage the next generation of young leaders within the church, much thought has gone into how we hear and respond to children and young people in the Diocese of Leicester.
Since Spring 2023, we have been helping to facilitate termly, youth-led, listening exercises among groups of children and young people in local schools and church groups. They’ve been tackling a range of subjects, chosen by them, including how we pray, what we value in leaders, climate change, and poverty.
Thousands of children have taken part to date, with responses made sense of, reported on, and then responded back to by the Bishop. You can read more here.
The importance of ‘listening’ to young voices is such that a similar project, We Hear You, has been inspired and launched by the national Church.
Matt Long, diocesan Youth Engagement and Intergenerational Communities Enabler, who devised the initiative, said: “Truly listening to children and young people is a superpower - it builds trust and communicates belovedness. We have learned so much from truly listening and responding to young voices through these resources. Children and young people never cease to surprise and hold adults to account”.
Reflecting on the morning, head teacher Fiona Brooks said: "It was so validating for our children to have time with these influential people, who genuinely listened to their views and actively sought their opinions on a whole range of topics."
Later in the afternoon, Dame Rachel visited the St Philip’s Centre in Leicester to meet with its director, the Revd Dr Tom Wilson, and team of faith practitioners.
The St Philip’s Centre exists to help people and communities learn to live well together in a multifaith society. It has an ecumenical Christian foundation and was established in 2006.
Since 2017, the Centre has piloted work responding to issues of safeguarding within religious organisations, as part of its ‘Safer Faiths, Safer Followers’ project.
Tom and deputy director, Riaz Ravat, shared details of the project and its impact with Dame Rachel.
“We have seen good progress but the need for support in developing safeguarding policies and procedures remains significant,” said Tom.
"Each organisation is independent and responsible for its own safeguarding. Therefore, the role of St Philip’s Centre has been to encourage and assist where we can. Our inter-religious approach is pioneering and is only possible in a city like Leicester, where people of so many religious perspectives live in such proximity to each other.”
In December 2024, St Philip’s Centre surveyed 68 individuals linked to religious organisations about their awareness of safeguarding. While 34 indicated confidence in handling safeguarding within their organisation, 20 reported they or their organisation require further training in safeguarding.
Christians, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, and Sikhs participated in the survey, indicating a broad need across religious groups in Leicester. This correlates with the Centre’s experience to date of offering training and awareness to religious groups on safeguarding and child sexual exploitation, in particular.
“It was an honour to have Dame Rachel visit us,” said Tom. “It was significant to share our work with her because of the importance of ensuring religious communities keep children safe and the fact that concerns about child sexual exploitation have made inter-religious relationships challenging in recent years.”
Keen to hear the voices of young people across all faiths, Dame Rachel’s visit was completed by a visit to a Muslim School in Oadby to engage with pupils and speak with teachers and principal, Zubeir Hassam, and a final stop at Sri Guru Harkrishan Sahib Ji Gurdwara, to chat with students, teachers and Chair of the Gurdwara, Gurjeet Singh Samra.
Bishop Martyn said: “It was so good to welcome the Children’s Commissioner to Leicester and spend time with her as she listened to children and young people in our schools and also at the St Philip’s Centre.
“Dame Rachel de Souza has an important role of ensuring that government listens to children and young people. She has indicated that she is keen to continue working with us, particularly to feed into the government’s work on a poverty strategy and on community cohesion.”
Dame Rachel added: “I was delighted to join Bishop Martyn for a tour of Leicester, focussing on social cohesion, great education, and the reality of child poverty.
“Community and faith play such a vital part in many young people’s lives, providing them with a sense of belonging, stability and support. When services within a community work together with children's best interests in mind, children feel more valued, heard and supported as they navigate the challenges of growing up.”