Letter to teachers from Peace One Day Founder, Jeremy Gilley Dear Friends,
Thank you for registering and welcome to the Peace One Day Primary Education Resource.
My name is Jeremy Gilley. I am a documentary filmmaker and the founder of the non-profit organisation Peace One Day. When I first set up Peace One Day, to establish a day of ceasefire and non-violence with a fixed calendar date, I knew young people would be key to making the day work. Since 21 September was unanimously adopted by the United Nations in 2001 as a day of ceasefire and non-violence, Peace One Day has concentrated on engaging children and young people in the spirit of Peace Day.
It became clear, close to the very beginning of Peace One Day’s journey, that teachers like you were keen to aid us in our endeavour. We developed free teaching resources for secondary-aged students to help teachers spread the message of Peace Day throughout schools and classrooms across the world, providing pupils with knowledge and understand- ing enough to carry the spirit of Peace Day forward into their adult lives, positively informing their everyday actions and decisions.
Now, with the kind support of Ocado, Peace One Day is pleased to present this new Resource designed for primary- aged pupils and specific to the UK primary curriculum. The intention of this Resource is to provide primary schools with a tool which enhances and supplements existing schemes of work for teaching Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) and Citizenship. We hope that the materials provided here will inspire and empower you and your pupils to celebrate Peace Day in a creative and meaningful way. As well as containing five lesson plans with fun cross-curricular activities exploring issues such as peace and anti-bullying, this Resource has a summary of further classroom ideas that can be adapted according to need. Also included is a list of ideas for student-led Peace Day activities, for the class or the whole school.
On Peace Day 2011, Peace One Day launched the Global Truce campaign: Peace One Day is calling for and working towards a day of ceasefire and non-violence across all sectors of society – a Global Truce. We cannot do it alone. We are reaching out to all sectors of society to get involved, most importantly, to young people and teachers around the world. You and your pupils have a key role to play. Please decide how you will mark Peace Day in your school or local community and let us know about your plans via our website; please ask others to do the same.
I am profoundly grateful to the online supermarket Ocado for underwriting the development and production of this Re- source. Ocado’s support will enable Peace One Day to reach an entirely new demographic, encouraging primary-aged children in the UK to join the biggest call for peace the world has ever seen, a cornerstone of Peace One Day’s Global Truce campaign.
Finally, my sincere thanks to you for your support. By working together there will be Peace One Day. In peace Jeremy, Founder, Peace One Day