FOEFACE
Empowering students to become positive digital citizens
FoeFace is a new interactive experience for year six students that prepares them for online life through workshops, social media simulations, games and creative practices all designed to protect them from toxic online behaviour and equip them to become part of a positive cultural shift on social media.
WHO IS IT FOR:
Year 6 students in Church of England Schools.
WHEN IS IT HAPPENING:
Various dates in early July 2025 (Summer 2 Term - after SATS!)
KEY OFSTED AND SIAMS TARGETS:
FoeFace is designed to support Church of England schools in meeting their SIAMS goal of creating an active culture of justice and responsibility among students, with a specific focus on learning to recognise unjust and harmful practices online and training them in Jesus’ teaching and practices that will empower them for responsible digital citizenship.
FoeFace also supports schools in meeting a number of Ofsted targets, particularly in the provision of their spiritual development as FoeFace provides supported exposure to differing worldviews and values that students will encounter online, teaches them to understand, respect and enjoy those differences and equips them with the confidence and skills to communicate their own reasoned views in peaceful ways.
ABOUT FOEFACE:
When young people first join social media, they begin a second, digital life - one where they are inevitably exposed to poor examples of human interaction and steered by algorithms toward engagement in a hostile culture. The harmful effects of social media on the mental and emotional health of young people are now widely acknowledged and deeply concerning, but we have not established rites of passage or structured preparation to effectively equip them for this significant digital transition - all that is required of them is to enter some basic details and agree to the terms.
FoeFace is a digital citizenship project that responds to this by supporting and educating young people to become peacemaking influencers on social media. It does not encourage them to join social media, but — recognising the likelihood of it at some point – FoeFace provides them with supported exposure to some of the experiences on it in a way that will both immunise them against some of its harmful effects and equip them to join a positive cultural shift online.
WHAT TO EXPECT ON THE DAY:
INTERACTIVE LEARNING about Jesus’ way (algorithm) of love of enemies and applying it to social media. Participating young people engage in an interactive exploration of Jesus' teachings (alternative algorithm), focusing on creative and counter-cultural responses to hurtful or toxic behaviors.
PRACTISING Jesus’ way via the FoeFace social media app simulation. Students are given the opportunity to apply these principles in a supported social media simulation via the bespoke FoeFace app. In the app, they are placed into anonymous, mixed-worldview groups where they encounter peers with diverse perspectives and values.
PARTICIPATING in a rite of passage ritual for becoming a digital citizen. To mark the signifiant transition to digital life and to give them an ongoing reminder of all they have learned, students are given a coin made by one of our artists to keep between their phone and phone case.
FUN! The FoeFace experience also features a range of ridiculous (but educational!) games such as Social Media Sleuthing, Blind Texting Races and ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors FoeFace’ designed to prepare young people for responsible and life-giving digital citizenship.
COST:
Suggested donation of £300 towards the charity. Please contact us if cost poses a barrier for your school.
For more details on how FoeFace works and to register your interest, click on the link below.
“There is growing evidence that social media makes young people – especially teenage girls – more anxious and depressed. The best approach – I believe – is for under 16s to stay off social media entirely. But I also really welcome FoeFace. This is a digital citizenship project that offers structured guidance and education, helping to prepare young people for what they might see online. The team behind it are great people and I’d recommend people to engage with what they are doing”
Participants are given a ceramic coin—handmade by one of our artists—with the FoeFace logo to reflect on. In the negative space between the two facing ‘foes’ lies a table with a cross on it. We use this image to reflect on Jesus’ teaching and example of love of enemies. The coin is designed to slot between a phone and phone case as an ongoing visual reminder of the creative possibilities that come from a posture of loving those who think and value differently from us.
FoeFace has been made possible due to a generous gift from the Benefact Trust. We are hugely grateful to them for supporting this project.
