School Partnerships for Impact Guide
The aim of this guide is to explore the work of existing school partnerships within the wider context of good partnering practice, to understand how they deliver extraordinary outcomes for young people, and to open doors for more schools to engage. In doing so, it provides a rationale for dedicating the time and resources needed to maximise the impact of collaborative relationships. Partnership working in the education sector is not new and comes in many forms: from the sharing of resources, schools collectively addressing a shared need, to multiple schools collaborating, and longterm formal partnerships such as Multi Academy Trusts, and free schools. But if we, as a sector, really expect it to make a difference at a systems level we must give it a chance to seed – to test and refine partnership working – and focus on creating a common language and approach. In this way we will be able to define collaboratively and reciprocally the value of school partnerships and justify further support from government and others. Looking to harness expertise across and beyond our networks is a key feature of S.P.A. and this is why we commissioned The Partnering Initiative to work with us on this document, seeking an external and expert perspective on how to best frame discussion around school partnerships and start to build a common framework. Taken as a whole, the education sector is powerful: it is resourceful, compassionate, and innovative in equal measure and this document celebrates and values all parts of the sector – working together – and learning from one another – to improve outcomes for all young people. We are grateful to all those that contributed to this publication, through interviews, the sharing of research and projects, the testing and refining of language and adding to the debate.
