Involve new members of staff or teachers from a variety of departments or leaders with different fields of expertise. Set up a cross-curricular project that brings together different subject areas.

Take advantage of ICT facilities (video conferencing, Skype, podcasts, blogging, vlogging and other social platforms) to facilitate collaboration between pupils and teachers from both schools.

Meet with your German peers

Apply for a grant through our Partnership Visit Fund, to get together with your partner coordinator to put together a plan of activities, including clear objectives and timeframes.

Keep up the interest by getting older students to share their experiences with new pupils in assemblies, open days and key events. Remember that pupils don't need to be learning German to benefit from your partnership with Germany!

Our Youth Ambassadors have come up with some innovative ways to involve new pupils and a range of year groups.

Apply for funding for a project/activity

Apply for funding to develop your link further and make your partnership sustainable. Find out more about how funding can help your partnership.

Involve other schools and the local community

Involve the community means a wealth of new ideas and connections for future activities and spreads the word and gain momentum. For schools, an easy way of doing this is to involve feeder schools.

Introduce new activities

Do you have a link with a partner school that is losing momentum and interest? Why not think about a new type of project? This could be cross-curricular and opened up to students across the whole school - a language-learning element is not always necessary.

Here are some types of activities our Youth Ambassadors would like to be part of:

• Taking part in volunteering schemes as part of an exchange visit.
• A work experience project involving visits to primary school
• A sports trip, e.g. involving sports clubs from both schools.
• Musical activities, e.g. involving orchestras or bands from both schools.