School Links

Together We Learn has been running a successful school linking programme for over twenty years. We invite schools to join us in changing lives through education by engaging young people to learn more about the world around them.

A school link is a sustainable partnership between your school and a school in Ethiopia. Each link is a way of developing understanding between international schools, and Together We Learn works to support and sustain collaboration between teachers and students involved. Start your link journey today.

“First-hand experience of life in Ethiopia has a huge impact on our teaching of development issues and to understanding different values and cultures in Africa. We have built the coffee ceremony into our year 7 break-out day and have a whole scheme of learning in year 8 based on Ethiopian life.”

Isobel, Secondary School Geography Teacher

School-to-School Connection

A School-to-School Connection is the best option for schools wanting to work with an Ethiopian school directly, enabling you to build a relationship over several years. The link allows students to learn about a new culture and gain in-depth knowledge of another country. We provide themed lesson plans each half-term, facilitating shared learning activities between your schools, and regular newsletters from our staff.

Education Ethiopia Connection

An Education Ethiopia Connection is the best option for schools who are looking for a way for thier pupils to engage with another culture and the power of practical action, without making a long-term financial commitment. The link allows pupils to gain knowledge over the year about Ethiopia and daily life there while providing an opportunity to support an educational project in Ethiopia through a fundraising activity.

School Links Booklet

What are the Benefits of School Linking?

Linking offers a unique opportunity to communicate with and learn from young people of different cultures and helps students develop confidence and self-esteem, as well as practical skills to work towards a fairer world.
Linking encourages your pupils to appreciate diversity both locally and globally and to challenge stereotypes.
Links give teachers from both schools the opportunity for personal and professional development.
School link resources and shared learning activities enrich lessons across the curriculum. Our lesson plans integrate with Geography, PSHE, Economics, Citizenship, RE and other subjects.

Busting Myths

The school links programme is designed to encourage children in developed countries to question the single story about ‘poor Africa’ which is often told, using the example of Ethiopia. Our teaching resources and newsletters:

Introduce children to different aspects of Ethiopian culture they may not be aware of, such as the food, music and history;
Present different stories from Ethiopia outside of the aid and development narrative, so they learn about things such as developing industries, trading health foods, and political systems;
Invite pupils to question what they may have been told in the media about different countries and peoples, and investigate whether they are being told the full story.

What Does a School Link Look like?

Welcome Assembly

At the start of new school link, a member of staff from our UK team can come to your school to deliver a welcome assembly. The assembly will introduce students to Ethiopia, explain the purpose of the link and provide students with an opportunity to ask questions about the country and international linking. When our staff visit from Ethiopia, they can also come to your school to do a workshop or assembly directly with the pupils.

Each half-term you will receive a newsletter from our UK team with selected stories about news from Ethiopia, a teaching resource recommendation with notes to relate to current events and updates and case studies from the work we are doing with children in Ethiopia. We encourage teachers to go through the newsletter with pupils and make it available on their school link noticeboard.

Teaching Resources

Our teaching resources are comprehensive packs including presentations and lesson plans. Each resource explores a different aspect of Ethiopia, encourages children to consider how their own situation relates, and is connected to the current curriculum. The resources are available on our website and each half-term we recommend a teaching resource that is related to current events.

Shared Learning Activities

School-to-School Connection links complete an annual shared learning activity together. This involves students from both schools working on the same exercise and producing drawings or letters that are then exchanged with their link school. The activities are designed to get both schools thinking from the other’s perspective and learning a little from each other along the way.

Student and Teacher Exchanges

Visits by teachers or students either to or from Ethiopia are a great way to cement the relationships forged through school linking. We have supported dozens of schools to successfully apply for teacher visit funding, and can support you to arrange your own student visit, or facilitate a development project visit with our partner Inspire Worldwide.

Fundraising and Taking Action

We facilitate schools to hold fundraising activities to support education projects in Ethiopia. These might include providing safe drinking water and clean toilets, building new classrooms, or stocking a school library with books. On completion of a fundraising project, students in the UK get a certificate to commemorate their efforts and a photo update of the completed project.

Backwell and Angereb School Link

Backwell Secondary school in Bristol has had a School-to-School Connection with Angereb Secondary in Gondar since 2007. This has allowed a generation of Backwell and Angereb students to communicate directly through shared learning activities and school visits.

The students have participated in a shared learning activity every year and even contributed to our lesson resources by developing a curriculum on water use and sustainability in 2010. Backwell students have driven the link themselves, developing practical skills and global learning, by organising fundraising activities to build new IT and toilet facilities in Angereb and through visits to their partner school as teaching volunteers.

FAQs

Together We Learn is the only organisation dedicated to linking schools with Ethiopia. More than twenty years of experience have given us a real insight into the challenges of successful school linking and, because we work on the ground in the communities where these links exist, we have personal relationships with the schools and in-depth knowledge of their situations. Our support will ensure you avoid potential pitfalls and embark on a truly committed and productive relationship with an Ethiopian school.

Our teaching resources are designed to contribute to a broad and balanced curriculum and can be used for a range of subjects as well as the PSHE and SMSC requirements. Being part of a school link also makes your school eligible for the International School Award, and enables participation in the British Council’s Connecting Classrooms programme, which funds teacher and student exchanges between linked schools.

A School-to-School Connection – At the start of a School-to-School connection we will send you a welcome pack with information about your linked schools, both the UK and Ethiopian school will be encouraged to set up a ‘school link’ noticeboard and we can arrange an assembly at your school by one of our UK team. Each half-term you will receive a newsletter and recommended teaching resource to enable your class to learn about Ethiopia. Once a year you will be sent details for a shared learning activity for your class to complete and send to Ethiopia. Your Ethiopian school link will complete the same exercise and their work will be sent to you. Our UK team will be on hand to help with any questions and can support with the arrangement of teacher and/or student visits to Ethiopia.

An Education Ethiopia Connection – At the start of an Education Ethiopia Connection we will send you a welcome pack with information about education in Ethiopia and we can arrange an assembly at your school by one of our UK team. Each half-term you will receive a newsletter and recommended teaching resource to enable your class to learn about Ethiopia. You will be sent details of a school project for your class to support and guidance on running a fundraising activity to meet your target for the link year. Our UK team will be on hand to help with any questions.

Together We Learn is a registered UK charity and as such is entirely non-profit making. We keep the cost of our school links as low as possible.

A School-to-School Connection – the basic cost of managing a School-to-School Connection is £500 per annum. However, we recognise that schools have different budgets and therefore we subsidise the cost of school links for our state-funded schools.

Independent School: £500
State Secondary School (subsidised): £350
State Primary School (subsidised): £250

An Education Ethiopia Connection – we don’t want cost to be a barrier to school linking, so our Education Ethiopia Connection agrees a fundraising target for the school for the year of the connection. This is usually around £350 depending on the size of the school.

A School-to-School Connection – there is no formal time commitment for a School-to-School Connection, but we do ask that schools consider a period of at least 2 or 3 years to enable pupils to gain the maximum benefit.

An Education Ethiopia Connection – these last for one academic year, but the school is always welcome to renew the link.

Together We Learn has school link staff in both of our Ethiopian offices and a coordinator in the UK who is on hand to help. We have over twenty years’ experience in managing international links so we can usually find the answer to your question!

Our termly newsletter provides access to teaching resources, ideas and inspiration to support your link as well as regular updates on our website, blog and social media.

Yes! Our staff have experience supporting schools to arrange their own teacher and student visits to linked schools in Ethiopia. Visits breathe new life into links, cement the relationships forged through shared learning activities, and offer up a wealth of new ideas for shared global learning experiences for pupils and teachers alike. Our staff in the UK and Ethiopia are happy to help and advise you on any aspect of a school visit, from the booking of international flights to school itineraries.

For student visits we recommend organising a visit with our partner Inspire Worldwide who specialise in arranging overseas visits for schools. Many of the students at colleges we work with join us on our Volunteer Placements.