Guidance

Setting up school partnerships

Information for schools and universities on sharing expertise and resources through collaboration.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 6 November 2018
• Last updated: 19 October 2022 — See all updates

Applies to England

Documents

Guide to setting up partnerships

HTML

Partnership models guide

HTML

Template: school partnership model diagrams

MS Word Document, 102 KB

Guide to writing a memorandum of understanding (MOU)

HTML

Template: memorandum of understanding

MS Word Document, 38.2 KB

Details

The Department for Education (DfE) supports collaboration across all sectors, including between independent schools, state-funded schools, colleges and universities. We encourage schools to develop ambitious partnerships that deliver activities focused on one or more of the following areas:

• leadership and governance
• teaching
• curriculum development and support
• targeted school improvement activities

Each partnership should ensure that it:

• is sustainable for all partner schools
• is mutually beneficial for all partner schools
• prioritises activities that bring about the greatest impact

Published 6 November 2018
Last updated 19 October 2022 + show all updates

1. 19 October 2022

   The outdated 'School partnership case studies' have been removed and the information about setting up school partnerships has been revised.

2. 9 October 2019

   Added new grant funding programme for cross-sector partnerships, bidding announcement and information.

3. 6 November 2018

   First published.