The Heartstone Project       Challenging Racism Prejudice and Intolerance A Mission for Change

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The Heartstone Project is a collection of resources for use in schools based around 'The Heartstone Odyssey' (the book which started the whole Heartstone movement), a fantasy set in both England and India. The story is captivating in its own right, but also addresses issues and challenges attitudes about racial, cultural and religious diversity. This book  forms the main source of discussion by younger children.

Heartstone for older pupils  involves work based around a range of photographs and features in the form of  Story Modules  on a wide range of issues, including Kosovo, Afghanistan, and environmental topics such as coral reefs.

Resources, including class sets of the novel are available to loan to Gloucestershire schools. For more information, please contact:

CIRCLE, THe Hucclecote Centre, Churchdown Lane, Gloucester, GL3 3QN

Tel: 01452 427261

To find out more about Heartstone, visit the Heartstone website.

A Heartstone project  involves four stages:

• Reading the story and using the resources to raise discussion on the issues of racism and the need for greater communication across cultures.
• Outcomes in the form of written work and art for the Heartstone exhibition.
• Creating a ‘Heartstone Charter’ which represents the pupils own code of conduct.
• Participating in an active citizenship activity to ‘make a difference’.

Tredworth Junior School, Gloucester have been using the Heartstone Project with Y6, where it forms the basis for a cross-curricular India theme. To find out more about Heartstone at Tredworth, click on the image below:

"Heartstone exists to increase understanding between young people aged 8-18 and promote positive tolerance and awareness of race equality. It encourages them to examine and express their hopes, fears and expectations for the world today and tomorrow. Heartstone believes that it is possible to build understanding and respect between young people, across nationalities, gender and cultures, so enabling them to challenge prejudice and intolerance. Heartstone has set itself an enormous challenge - the aim is no less than to enable children to build a better world across social divisions. But young people are the future of the world - so is there a better place to put our energy? "