Support for schools

We at SLN are keen to help schools promote community cohesion and run successful linking projects. We provide practical support and resources to help schools explore the concepts of identity, diversity, equality and community with their students through linking projects. This support includes CPD, audit and evaluation tools, advice and more.

You can register your school with SLN on this site. When your registration has been logged, you will be invited to a one-day CPD course on community cohesion and school linking.

Following the CPD, your school will have a profile page on this website, where you can display and update your project information and be contacted by others (schools, LAs, etc.). You can also get in touch with other schools or LAs to find out about their projects or to create a link.

How to find a link

Why get involved?

School linking opens up opportunities for pupils to explore the concepts of identity and diversity, and supports teachers in the development of a positive and inclusive school ethos. It encourages partnership working between schools in a variety of interesting and effective ways.

The government White Paper, Your child, your schools, our future: building a 21^st century schools system outlines the government’s plan to introduce a new School Report Card (SRC), which will provide a rounded assessment of school performance and enable parents and the public to make better informed judgments about the effectiveness of each school. One element of the SRC will be an assessment of the quality of partnership working.

Responding to challenges

Many schools choose linking in response to a specific issue or objective such as racism in the community. You may recognise the need for communication between diverse groups within your school, or the need to break down barriers between those groups. You might be interested in expanding your students’ knowledge of the world, or in using linking as a creative teaching and learning tool for a specific subject.

Linking provides many opportunities for rich learning experiences and SLN exists to support your school to deliver them.

Ofsted duty

Most schools recognise their role at the heart of their community, are active in whole school development, and are promoting community cohesion. Schools are now asked by Ofsted to provide evidence that their efforts to promote community cohesion are having impact, and to describe this in their self-evaluation forms (SEF).

Guidance for the Ofsted SEF

Meeting as equals

The Stephen Hawking School is for children with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties, while Manorfield Primary is a large mainstream school with pupils drawn from a wide range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Children from both schools explored their identity using a multi-sensory approach including ‘identity boxes’ and met together at the Museum of Docklands where they enjoyed drama and story telling sessions. One of the teachers involved says, "Almost immediately after meeting both groups of children behaved together as equals."

Model United Nations Events

Taking on the role of diplomats in the UN, students from a range of schools across a district, participate in individual and collective action that includes decision making, negotiating and presenting the ideas of their delegation on issues such as 'The Rights to Education of the Girl Child, 'The HIV-AIDS Pandemic' or 'Child Soldiers in Rwanda'.

Meeting as equals

Children from both schools explored their identity using a multi-sensory approach including ‘identity boxes’ and met together at the Museum of Docklands where they enjoyed drama and story telling sessions. One of the teachers involved says, “Almost immediately after meeting both groups of children behaved together as equals.”

Model United Nations Events

Taking on the role of diplomats in the UN, students participate in individual and collective action that includes decision making, negotiating and presenting the ideas of their delegation on issues such as ‘The Rights to Education of the Girl Child’, ‘The HIV-AIDS Pandemic’ or ‘Child Soldiers in Rwanda’.