{"id":10389,"date":"2022-09-08T10:42:25","date_gmt":"2022-09-08T09:42:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faithbeliefforum.org\/?p=10389"},"modified":"2022-09-08T10:42:25","modified_gmt":"2022-09-08T09:42:25","slug":"linking21-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faithbeliefforum.org\/linking21-22\/","title":{"rendered":"School Linking- Adventures of 2021-22"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having now come to the end of yet another academic year, it is a great place to be standing looking back and shining a light on the resilience and sheer determination of schools and their staff.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The desire of teachers and school staff to create opportunities for their students to develop their sense of identity, belonging and understanding of the world and the people around them, and importantly, a better understanding of the value of <\/span>diversity<\/span><\/b>, <\/span>difference<\/span><\/b>, and <\/span>dialogue<\/span><\/b>, is admirable. Below is a little summary of the 2021-2022 school linking journey.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The past academic year has been a real pick n\u2019 mix of challenges, exciting developments, flurry of activities, and innovation! Here at F&BF, we continued to navigate the ongoing challenges that come with supporting schools and children living through a pandemic, whilst still offering children the opportunity to meet peers from outside family circles, schools & community bubbles.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our School Linking\u202fProgramme\u202fis part of our Education and Learning offer.\u202fIt aims to match classes of different faiths and beliefs,\u202fequipping teachers with the tools to deliver meaningful interfaith encounters\u202fbetween their students.\u202fWe have been delivering Linking for over ten years, working with schools across London and Birmingham. Our work is delivered as part of the umbrella organisation The Linking Network.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Linking & SMSC:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Last year, at the height of the pandemic, we worked with our partners to develop a Linking programme that was fully virtual to allow for Links to continue to take place under Covid restrictions. Due to the continued and changing circumstances caused by the pandemic, our 21-22 Linking year was further adapted to be more flexible. We offered an approach that continued to enable the exploration of key themes whilst also supporting schools with unknown and often last minute Covid related changes. The Linking programme was adapted to be a flexible (fully in-person, fully virtual, or hybrid programme).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the way in which the programme could be delivered had adapted, the aim of School Linking continued to be focused on supporting students to develop the skills of dialogue, skills in communicating across real or perceived boundaries, developing a vocabulary of shared humanity. These areas are explored through Key Questions:\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2756<\/span> Who am I? -\u202fcreating opportunities to explore multiple aspects of identity including faith\u202f&\u202fbelief\u202f\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2756<\/span> Who are we? – celebrating diversity, including similarity and\u202fdifference\u202f\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2756<\/span> Where do we live?\u202f- promoting community, understanding locality and developing a sense of belonging for all locally, nationally,\u202fglobally\u202f\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2756<\/span> How do we live together? -\u202fchampioning equality, challenging prejudice in all its forms and promoting active citizenship<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Autumn term was perhaps the most challenging of the three academic terms. Covid restrictions continued to create a crisis which meant that many schools were not able to deliver the school linking programme. We heard from our schools that the desire to Link was there but that there were barriers of <\/span>staff capacity, absences, restrictions<\/span><\/b> and <\/span>uncertainty<\/span><\/b> that prevented activities from taking place. There was also still some hesitancy to run virtual activities due to being unsure about their effectiveness. At F&BF, we decided that our priority was to offer schools support in these challenging times through regular communication and creating revised tools that could be used within classrooms.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Spring term was a more promising picture with the lifting of all restrictions and the push for \u2018living with covid\u2019. Some of our schools took the plunge and made Linking happen\u2026 some were even in person encounters!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The schools that had managed to link in the spring term told us that the following conditions helped them to link:\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n