Teachers from 18 schools celebrated the success of the Rotherham Schools Linking Pilot Project recently at an event held at Kimberworth Community Primary School and supported by One Town One Community.
The teachers who are from primary and secondary schools across Rotherham have been matched, wherever possible, with a school that has a number of pupils from different backgrounds than their own, as part of increasing awareness of diversity.
Nuala McCormack, School Linking Project Operations Manager who is employed by the Diocese of Hallam to run the programme, said: “This is a very exciting pilot project and we are delighted with how successful it has been. All the schools who have been involved have reported how the activities support the school curriculum, whilst having a positive impact in breaking down barriers and increasing young people’s awareness and understanding of those from different backgrounds. We hope this pilot will be just the start of a long term programme that could run across many more Rotherham Schools.”
One of the most successful “matches” was made between Dinnington Comprehensive School, which has linked with St Bernard’s Catholic High School and Clifton Comprehensive School. All three schools have randomly selected 10 year 7 students who volunteered to take part, with an equal mix of boys and girls. In their individual schools, the pupils did some work around identity, looking at issues such as ‘Who are we?’ ‘Where do we live? – looking at local people and places that make up their community’ also, ‘How do we all live together?’ – which focused on relationships between different people in the community.
To really bring the project to life, pupils at all three schools produced separate collages showing their likes and dislikes, but which were not identified to any particular pupil. The artwork was given to one of their link schools, whose pupils were asked to write down specific questions they would like answered by the group of pupils.
Each school then made a video, where the pupils answered the questions, which was shown at their link school before they officially met up. Their first meeting was at Crowden education facility, which is owned by the council, although some of the schools opted to visit Rotherham United FC’s ground at Don Valley Stadium or the Rotherham Titans Rugby Club.
The Crowden residential allowed the pupils to work together on team projects over a two day period. On the first day, the pupils were split up into groups so they were working with pupils they had never met before from the partner schools. The pupils took part in an exciting range of challenges, such as orienteering, archery and zipwire, which enabled good team working and communication.
Chris Eccles, assistant head at Dinnington Comprehensive School, said: “This has been a fantastic project which has really made a difference to our pupils. Many of them had little experience of those from backgrounds different to them and they have been surprised about how much they have in common.”
He continues “Many new friendships have sprung up, especially as a result of the trip to Crowden and the pupils are regularly in touch with pupils they have met from the link schools, through email and Facebook. Not only has it been great for them to build these relationships, but it has also given them more confidence and helped them to settle into school better, which is an added bonus!”
Cllr Mahroof Hussain, Cabinet Member for Community Development Equality and Young People’s Issues, said: “Perceptions are shaped from a young age and often form our beliefs that we carry for the rest of our lives. By bringing young people together in primary and early secondary school means they can gain a better understanding of each others’ cultures, break down barriers and build positive relationships for the future.”
The linking project involves the following schools:
St. Bernard's, Clifton Comp and Dinnington Comprehensive
Winterhill and St.Pius
St. Mary's, Herringthorpe and Sitwell School
St. Bede's and Kimberworth School
St. Mary's, Maltby and St. Catherine's, Sheffield
St. Gerard's and Canklow Woods School
Meadowview and Blackburn School
St. Ann's and Herringthorpe School
One Town, One Community is about creating a feeling of belonging to one community here in Rotherham, where individuals demonstrate unity, mutual understanding and shared values, celebrating our differences and what binds us all together.