Oldham Schools Linking Project
Supporting our children to explore identity, celebrate diversity, champion equality and promote community.
Aims
- To build a sense of togetherness from within the classroom.
- To support children to explore identity, diversity, equality and community.
- To promote achievement, empathy, critical thinking, trust, self-esteem and enjoyment for all pupils.
What is Schools Linking?
It is an opportunity for children and young people from different geographical, ethnic, religious and socio-economic backgrounds, to work together to explore four key questions:
- Who am I? – exploring identity
- Who are we? – celebrating diversity
- Where do we live? – promoting community
- How do we all live together? – championing equality
Schools taking part in the Oldham Schools Linking Project complete two neutral venue visits with their linked school at Gallery Oldham and Castleshaw Education Centre. They also visit their linked school and host a visit from their linked school at their school: these are known as class to class visits.
Benefits for the class
- Deepens knowledge and understanding of different beliefs by creating a safe space for children and young people to engage directly with peers from different backgrounds and reflect on how to become more open minded, respectful and self-aware.
- Supports spiritual development as children and young people reflect on their own beliefs, religious or otherwise, that inform their perspective on life and their interest and respect for others.
- Offers pupils powerful learning experiences, ones that they will probably never forget.
- Gives pupils a purpose for speaking and listening because the linking activities get children talking, sharing, laughing and learning about each other. Reflection times in the classroom after linking activities offer further opportunities.
- Gives pupils a purpose for reading and writing because children write for a real audience. They write about subjects which matter to them and they read post from their link class.
- Gives pupils the chance to explore identity, diversity and community with depth and sensitivity in a well-structured curriculum.
- Connects to the Oldham Pledge and meets Pledge 11 and the children and young people develop many of the key character traits.
Benefits for the wider school
- Endorsed by the Ministry for Housing Community and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Department for Education (DfE) as offering a positive, age appropriate curriculum contribution to spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils, British values and wellbeing.
- Provides evidence that the curriculum is broad, balanced and relevant and promotes personal development as set out by OFSTED.
- Contributes to harmony between different cultural traditions by enabling children and young people to acquire an appreciation and respect for their own and other cultures.
- Extends our school community to embrace other children and families.
Quotes from Heads and Governors
“Schools Linking reinforces our Vision and Mission statement and underpins our school motto of ‘Working Together’. Through our effective school link our staff and pupils engage with and learn about other children, with different cultures, beliefs, lives and experiences. This knowledge and understanding of differences and similarities fully prepares our pupils for life in modern Britain and encourages them to be Citizens of the World”.
‘’Our school is committed to giving our pupils every opportunity to develop personally: to increase their sense of self-worth and their appreciation of others, their ability to empathise and their capacity to be a true friend. What better way than through Linking schools’’.
For further information please contact:
- Suzanne Hudson, suzanne.hudson@oldham.gov.uk
- Sophie Ellicott, sophie.ellicott@oldham.gov.uk
- Lauren Massey, lauren.massey@oldham.gov.uk