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Though apart, a part and a partnership of something bigger in Wallsend

The ongoing situation and school closures as result of Covid-19 have a number of different implications for the education sector. We want to dig deeper into these issues, with help from the experts. This week, Emma Barker, Community Coordinator of Wallsend Children’s Community, looks at how community and collaboration has helped local schools through the pandemic. 

There’s nothing like a crisis to bring people together to take action. For schools in Wallsend, working in partnership was happening a long time before we’d ever heard the word coronavirus. Made up of all primary, secondary and specialist school provision in the area, this group of people have become an even stronger group during the pandemic. Making time to come together (online) to learn from each other, support each other and to do the very best they can to support families in Wallsend. 

As the Wallsend Children’s Community we have been working alongside the Wallsend Schools Partnership for a number of years. We work to help all people and organisations (schools, individual families, community groups, youth provisions, statutory authorities, to name a few) that make up the community around a child in Wallsend understand how they all work together and apart to best support our children and young people. 

Our role, as the three members of staff employed to facilitate the Children’s Community, is one of gathering insights and sharing them across the whole area in a meaningful way to enable true partnership working. 

While everyone is scattered apart, due to COVID19, our role of having eyes everywhere has been really valued, especially by the Wallsend Schools Partnership. To capture the community’s voice we have conducted multiple surveys across the community, had hundreds of one-to-one conversations and scoured social media to build the best picture possible of how our community is responding to the crisis, the challenges they face and where a bit of additional support is needed. 

Our research has shown how crucial the role of schools have become for families as a source of information and support. We’ve also seen how, as the lockdown has progressed, families are struggling more and more to facilitate home-schooling often combined with work demands and how this is taking a toll on everyone’s mental health. 

The information which we have gathered has helped to inform the schools’ response and decision making over a huge area of topics. An example would be how the schools are working in partnership with Wallsend Action for Youth, to consider how to support families over the summer. Funding has now been secure to offer a programme of summer activities, which is currently being offered out to families who need help. The Schools Partnership produced this video which has been widely shared across the community and the comments have affirmed the crucial role schools have held at this time. 

They say it takes a village to raise a child and over the last few months our village has been tested in a way it has never before. However, we’re really seeing the fruit of the time invested over the years in forming deep relationships and partnerships with our schools for the benefit of our young people in Wallsend. The journey continues, but we continue together. 

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