Welcome to Derby Open Centre

Our aim is to promote understanding through contact between different communities. We do not try to eliminate differences between people but rather to encourage understanding and appreciation of one another. The Open Centre is rooted in the communities that make up our city - which, if you think about it for a moment, means that it is rooted in the communities that make up the world. Go back one or two generations and almost all of us are incomers to Derby. Tens of thousands of school pupils and adults have used the resources of the Open Centre since it was opened a generation ago in 1981. The stereotypes that existed then have no place now when the diversity within individual communities (in terms of beliefs, occupations and lifestyles) is almost as great as within society as a whole. Just as we cannot assume that those whose grand parents were born in Britain are active Christians (in fact over 90% of them do not engage in any form of religious activity - click for details) so we cannot assume that those whose grand parents came from the Indian sub-continent are active Hindus or Muslims. Each of us is an individual, not a stereotype. You can find out more about us on our About page.

www.DerbyOpenCentre.org

Comments from visitors to the Open Centre

"The visit and trails covered a range of things that the children were interested in and which met their project needs." Miss Fletcher, Landau Forte College.

Please click here for other comments from visitors.

Latest events and news

1. Click here for job opportunities at the Open Centre.
2. Click here if you would like to join our Speaker panel to represent your community or beliefs to school pupils and adults in Derby, Derbyshire and surrounding counties.
3. Click here if you are interested in becoming a Friend of the Open Centre.

Working with schools

"There are no opportunities to link to the wider community through fieldwork and contact with local religious groups." This critical comment was made in a recent Ofsted report on a Derbyshire school. We encourage schools to use our resources as part of a whole-school approach to diversity across the curriculum. Local Authority advisors should be the first port of call for schools who have yet to develop such a policy. (Even Ofsted inspectors can get it wrong - "religious groups" should have read "groups representing different beliefs" - not all beliefs are religious as is made clear in section 44 of the Equality Act of 2006.) We work with the whole range of schools, from infant to sixth form, and we can provide everything from hands-on workshops for early learners to talks and debates on controversial topics for year 10 upwards. Our help with speakers for General Studies in the sixth-form is greatly appreciated by many schools. We believe that day-to-day contact between those of different ethnic, religious and non-religious backgrounds is the key to a harmonious society - far better than one in which people remain segregated by colour, ethnic background or belief with little or no understanding of one another's lives. All our staff have many years' experience working with pupils of all ages and all of them are fully CRB checked. We are proud of the fact that in the last 25+ years, tens of thousand of pupils from Derby, Derbyshire and surrounding counties have had the opportunity to visit us and the communities with which we work.

Click for a .PDF of our leaflet or ring us for a copy

Special note for parents

The overwhelming majority of parents welcome the opportunities the Open Centre offers for their children to find out more about the different groups that make up our city. A tiny minority of parents sometimes express concern when told that their children will be visiting the Open Centre and we want to set their minds at rest.

The Open Centre exists to promote good relations between all citizens of Derbyshire no matter what their backgrounds or beliefs. This applies to everyone from the smallest rural Derbyshire village, to the leafy suburbs and the inner city streets - we are all citizens and we all share a common society.

The Open Centre is not a faith-based organisation - its trustee directors include those with religious beliefs and those with non-religious beliefs. The Centre does not promote or teach any form of belief (religious or otherwise) - it exists to promote understanding.

Go back one, two or three generations and you will find that most of us have come to Derby for our job or to make a better life for our families - most of us are incomers in one way or another and we all benefit from the rich diversity of our backgrounds.

Prejudice is a result of ignorance and fear - often promoted by sensationalist articles in the media. None of us wants to base our beliefs and actions on ignorance - but fear, resulting from ignorance, is easy to understand. We owe it to our children to ensure that they do not form prejudices out of ignorance.

The Open Centre exists to overcome ignorance and to replace fear with understanding and welcome. We invite any parents with any concerns to contact us for a chat or to come in to see the Open Centre for themselves.

Working with adults

Our services can be a valuable part of Equality and Diversity training for many adult groups - particularly those in public-sector organisations and large companies.

We are unique in offering an "understanding through experience" approach to such training, rather than the more normal "chalk and talk" (or white board and marker or presenter and PowerPoint) approach. We consider the opportunity for interaction between different communities to be far more valuable than sitting alone in front of a PC working through a suitable "module."

Social Cohesion depends not on theoretical knowledge but on personal experience - and that is what we offer.

Our visits, workshops and courses are led by qualified members of Derby communities - they know what they are talking about because they live it every day.

You can find out more about us on our About page.