There is an enormous amount of goodwill in independent schools around developing partnership programmes with state schools.  But good intentions are not enough to ensure successful, meaningful projects.  Getting partnerships right requires local understanding, strategy, careful thought and preparation.

In this WorkBook, Christina Astin shares her experience and expertise so that any partnership lead can have a head start in getting partnerships right.  Christina outlines practical steps that help independent schools develop sustainable and effective partnerships.  A must-read for all those seeking closer relationships with state schools.

I am delighted to see the launch of this Partnerships WorkBook, which marks an important moment in the practical development of such activity in our schools. Together with the SMT, governors are responsible for setting a school’s future strategy, and partnership work is an increasingly important strand within that. Governors should also be interested in evaluating over time the outcomes of partnership work in the school and the wider community, so that they can easily answer the question ‘how do we know?’. In the charitable sector, it is ever more important to be able to demonstrate impact when it comes to the delivery of public benefit. With that in mind, I commend this key resource and Christina’s excellent work to all our member schools.

Partnership work is mutually valuable and rewarding. The Partnerships Workbook is an essential guide on how to make partnerships successful and sustainable. Christina’s enthusiasm, understanding and commitment to this work shines through and is inspiring others to take up the challenge.

This brilliant workbook is the perfect tool to help schools deliver partnerships with real depth of purpose. Packed full of wisdom and practical advice, it’s a comprehensive guide to doing the best by young people through cross-sector partnerships, as well as how to go about harnessing goodwill and expertise to help your partnership thrive. We’re delighted to be asked to contribute to the communications section – it’s so important to agree on and articulate aims clearly, as well as to communicate the impact your partnership is having.

I worked through Christina’s Partnerships Workbook and just wished that I had had access to it when I started my role coordinating partnerships. It would have saved me hours of thinking, planning and creating (and agonising!) and given me the confidence to develop my own strategy to create truly impactful and sustainable partnerships much more effectively.

Christina’s WorkBook takes you on a journey, helps clarify your thinking, provides practical resources to apply flexibly to your context and signposts you to hugely helpful resources and research whatever stage of the partnership journey you are on. For me education should be about authentic collaboration based on mutual respect and for mutual benefit to provide the very best outcomes for all young people; this workbook really helps you do just that.