Together we are stronger: St Luke’s film sends clear message on hate crime

The Mayor and Mayoress Ian and Christine Duckworth at the launch 'Don't Hate Me Film' at St Luke's Primary School

Ahead of anti-bullying week, St Luke’s Primary School in Heywood has launched a short film against hate crime.

The film was launched at the primary school in their immersive room which gave guests a unique viewing experience as the film surrounded the room.

Mayor Ian Duckworth was a guest at the launch and said: “I found it a very powerful film and it’s amazing that our young people are able to tackle such big issues so well.”

The ‘Don’t Hate Me’ project was driven passionately by the late Yasin Khan the Schools Equality & Cohesion Lead at Rochdale Council. 

Headteacher at St Luke’s, Kim Farrall, said: “The film is a small tribute to Yasin Khan’s relentless dedication working in schools and helping to improve the lives of the young people. We are honoured to be part of that legacy. I am so proud of our pupils for really throwing themselves in to this project.”

The empowering film was developed in collaboration with students, teachers, M6 Theatre, Mako Education and commissioned by the council’s early help and schools and community safety teams to creatively tackle hate crime issues and generate discussions around this topic.

Director of children’s services at Rochdale Council, Gail Hopper, attended the premiere and was impressed by what she saw, she said: “Hate crime is such an important topic and the way these young pupils have dealt with it is superb. They should be really proud of their work, I’m sure it will go on to be useful resource for many other young people.”

Parvez Qadir, from M6 Theatre, was delighted to see the film launched, he said: “I find it really empowering to see these young people deliver a project like this. The children worked so hard to make this a really powerful film.”