![\"image1\"](\"https:\/\/aags.azharacademy.org\/old\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/image1.png\")
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Azhar Academy is a Muslim girls’ school in East London, and St Ursula’s is a Catholic girls’ secondary
\nschool in Greenwich. They Linked for the first time this year as lead teachers Kareema, Shabana and
\nAnna were keen for their students to actually get to meet and build relationships with young people
\nfrom different backgrounds. As Shabana explained, “our students don’t get much variety in who they
\nspend time with. They learn about different beliefs but don’t get to experience it.”
\nBoth schools selected their linking students through an application process. Though initially unsure
\nof parent reactions to the link, teachers at Azhar were surprised to receive a large number of calls
\nfrom parents asking for their daughters to be included in the programme!
\nInspired by hearing from other teachers at CPD days, they were determined to get the most for their
\nstudents through creative and though-provoking activities. Before meeting each other, students
\nwere asked to design their own ‘identity boxes’. One student expressed that this was the most
\nchallenging part of Linking for her: “it was so hard to think of what represents you and makes up
\nwho you are. I hadn’t really thought that way about my identity before.”
\nStudents enjoyed “meeting and socialising with different people” through the Link Days, which were
\nmade up of activities such as jewellery making, exploring logos and badge making and team building
\ngames at the local park. Highlights for the students included observing daily prayers – “it was a really
\nspecial opportunity” – to henna painting – “the girls were so excited they were queuing to get it
\ndone!” Shabana described how “it was so hard to drag the students away at the final link as they
\ndidn’t want to say goodbye. We ended up being late for our train back to school!”
\nFor the teachers at Azhar, the programme directly contributed to helping students become
\nconfident in their own identities and recognising its complexity: “they’ve come to realise their own
\nidentities are very important and that there are many parts to it.” Anna noticed how the through the
\nprogramme, student were able to dramatically increase their understanding of different
\ncommunities and belief, which in turn helped to cultivate respect: “it’s made their language around
\ndifferent beliefs and practices more sensitive. They’re much more aware of the diversity within a
\ntradition rather than saying things like ‘they all do this thing'”.
\nStudents also described the Link as a “confidence boost, because I had to push myself to go and talk
\nto new people”. It also gave students a chance to “feel comfortable around people different to me to
\nprepare me for when I go to university or the work place.”
\n![\"image2\"](\"https:\/\/aags.azharacademy.org\/old\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/image2.png\")
\nBut it’s been just as much of a journey for the teachers involved: “getting to experience different
\nbackgrounds has really opened my eyes a lot. It’s been fun getting to know my link teachers and her
\nstudents.”
\nExample of a student \u2018Identity Box\u2019 and students working together at Link Day 1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Azhar Academy Muslim Girls\u2019 and St Ursula\u2019s Catholic Girls\u2019 Secondary Schools Azhar Academy is a Muslim girls’ school in East London, and St Ursula’s is a Catholic girls’ secondary school in Greenwich. They Linked for the first time this year as lead teachers Kareema, Shabana and Anna were keen for their students to actually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aags.azharacademy.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aags.azharacademy.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aags.azharacademy.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aags.azharacademy.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aags.azharacademy.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1094"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/aags.azharacademy.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1102,"href":"https:\/\/aags.azharacademy.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions\/1102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aags.azharacademy.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aags.azharacademy.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aags.azharacademy.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}