Seeing the world through each other’s eyes: Neutral Venue Visits in Rochdale

A blog by our Schools Linking Facilitator in Rochdale

Have you ever heard the tale of the Holmfirth tiger?  It’s the true story of a family of acrobats who travelled the world with their circus act. When WW2 broke out, they returned home, back to their small Yorkshire village, with an additional family member, Fenella, a Sumatran tiger!

In today’s increasingly diverse world, fostering understanding, empathy, and collaboration among young people from different backgrounds is more important than ever. One powerful initiative helping children to develop these skills is The Schools Linking Programme.  This connects classes from different schools in the same local authority to help children experience the richness of diverse perspectives. One aspect of this programme that proves particularly effective is the inclusion of a neutral venue visit — trips to locations away from school grounds that provide a shared space for learning and interaction.  In Rochdale, our young people go to the theatre.

Neutral venue visits, whether they are to museums, art galleries, historical sites, community spaces, or M6 Theatre offer a setting that is separate from the daily routines and pressures of school life. This creates an environment where children can engage with one another as equals, free from the usual dynamics that may exist in their own school setting or from first meeting at one their schools. The two classes come together and the neutral venue allows students to interact based on shared experiences.

This “neutral ground” helps to remove the psychological barriers that may exist between students from different schools. It fosters a sense of openness and belonging, where students can make connections not only with their peers from other schools but also with the location or theme of the visit. When students engage with new content or experiences together, it builds a natural bond and encourages collaborative thinking.

At our neutral venue the classes were immersed in the world of Titch, Ma and Pa on their riotous adventure from a circus train in South Africa, to a steamboat on the Atlantic Ocean and onward to West Yorkshire.   A Tiger’s Tale tells the story of a ramshackle travelling troupe and their adopted tiger cub on their adventure into a world where ‘all the best stories end with a surprise.’ 

Our neutral venue visits tell a similar but different tale.  They tell the story of children brought  together outside their usual environment, encouraged to step outside their comfort zones and experience something new and unfamiliar. It is a tale about shared experiences that enable children to see the world through each other’s eyes, a crucial step in developing empathy and their journey into Linking.

To find out more about Schools Linking in Rochdale, click here