Academy’s £136K project to strengthen community and boost student success
Celebrating Diverse Sunderland - Thornhill Academy
Thornhill Academy has been awarded £136,960 for ‘Celebrating Diverse Sunderland’, a project designed to promote stronger community ties and a more inclusive environment for children to thrive both academically and socially.
By building shared understanding and strong school-community connections, the initiative hopes to raise pupil literacy rates, support better mental health for children, and support stronger transitions between primary and secondary school. As project lead Liam Clark explains: “It’s about building a strong community and positive relationships with one another.”
Over three years, “the project will investigate the ways that we can learn from our diverse community and celebrate each other and understand barriers that might exist for young people and families,” said Liam.
Research will include a combination of social and educational topics, in order to:
- Develop a consistent approach to early language teaching and interventions across all schools, and a programme of staff training to deliver it
- Examine possible support for children transitioning from primary to secondary school, whilst strengthening community dynamics
- Understand barriers and develop approaches to increase parental engagement within different community groups
- Maintain strong connections with established community groups, and cultivate new relationships with emerging groups
- Explore the ways community dynamics can impact on children’s mental health, improving school engagement and wellbeing.
Central to the success of the initiative will be a dedicated colleague teacher and researcher who will “liaise closely with children, parents, and educators in addressing and exploring vital community and educational needs,” said Liam.
Emphasising the value and importance of community and stakeholder voices in the project, Liam made clear that the project “will include parent steering groups, child voice, staff voice, agency and political voice too”.
He explained: “The research side is really meaningful because we’re going to look at our city, find out lots of different stories and then create resources to bring our community together, and that’s really exciting.”
Over its lifespan, the project aims to encourage the strong school-community connections needed for children’s well-being and development. Short term goals include boosting parental participation at school events and open evenings, greater involvement in extracurricular activities and residential trips, and supporting eligible families to access free school meals and help with uniforms.
Long-term it is hoped that the project will bring lasting benefits to the Sunderland area. “The level of change that this will bring will be phenomenal and will transform opportunities for young people,” said Liam.
On receiving the funding, Liam comments that the money will: “open doors for us” adding that: “Thornhill kids want to be doctors, they want to be solicitors, as well as engineers and tradespersons. They’ve got really high aspirations. There’s no poverty of aspiration here.”
Speaking about the broader SHINE Sunderland fund, Liam said: “It’ll change lives, it really will. A lot of what we’re going to do together won’t just change lives, it will save lives too.”
Fiona Spellman, CEO of SHINE, said: “We are delighted to support this initiative. We commend the vision and ambition at the heart of this approach, and we look forward to understanding more about the impact.”