Lesson in understanding

Photo: Anthony Miller

Linked . . . pupils from St Hilda’s and South Failsworth schools

AN initiative creating community cohesion by uniting children from different backgrounds has been nominated for an award.

The Linking Project between St Hilda’s and South Failsworth schools has been nominated for a Pride in Oldham award by Oldham Council.

The project has been running for three years and links two differing communities from Failsworth and Coldhurst. It helps the children realise how much they have in common and creates lasting bonds.

Recent activities include a trip over two days to Gallery Oldham to work together and a two-day leadership skills conference involving the school’s councils.

It takes a lot of time and effort to arrange face-to-face gatherings between the two schools and transportation but the head teachers have found it worthwhile.

St Hilda’s head teacher Gill Pursey said: “It’s where schools linking can have an impact on the community. We arrange lots of different activities throughout the year for the children to work side by side to find out more about each other.

“The whole focus is about community cohesion and finding out about children from different backgrounds.

“It’s very successful. Both myself and the head of South Failsworth are very impressed. It’s like a ripple effect.

“They learn how children from different ethnic backgrounds have the same interests and do the same things and watch the same TV programmes.

“Their initial conversations are really enlightening for each other.

“It’s tremendous to be nominated. It’s one of those things that validates the time and effort we put in. There’s a lot of talk about standards and something that validates this sort of approach is wonderful. This is as important as how many children we get to Level 4 and 5 and it should be recognised.”

She added that the children would be pleased with the nomination but would not think they were doing anything special as they were used to working together side by side.