A HIGH school has launched a campaign aimed at breaking down barriers between communities in Accrington and Oswaldtwistle.

Mount Carmel RC High School in Wordsworth Grove is using social media to encourage its students to spread a message of love following recent terror attacks.

The #OneLoveMC campaign was announced in a series of assemblies at the school after the headteacher Xavier Bowers expressed concerns that British white and British Asian communities are divided beyond the school gates.

Mr Bowers is calling on students to take selfies with each other doing positive things in the community and share them on social media.

He said: “It is a really simple concept that any school can engage with.

“Like me, many people will be wondering what on earth is the world coming to?

“I’m talking about the events in London and Manchester that will have affected us all.

“At one point I worried about switching on the TV, especially the news.”

But he said he was also touched by the way people have come together.

“People who would not normally talk to each other in the community really looked after each other,” he said.

“My question is why does it take such terrible tragic circumstances for people to come together?

“I want to focus on the word ‘love’. I see it every day in lessons, in the sports hall, at break times. British white and British Asian pupils in school altogether.

“But that togetherness and love seen in school stops at the school gates.

“There are white British and Asian British living in the same streets that have little to do with each other.

“I want us to help do something positive to change that.

“Take that Mount Carmel One Love into the community and do simple things together - whether that is going on a trip to Mcdonald’s or playing football in the park, to break down those barriers.

“(The children) are the next generation who have a massive responsibility and opportunity to change things in the community like they have in the school.”

Reverend Anthony Roberts, from Holy Trinity Church in Oswaldtwistle, said: Things like this are important to show we are all one and the message is to love everybody”.