About Us

Headteacher’s welcome

Welcome to The Link School website

I am delighted to be able to welcome you to the Link School and introduce myself as the Head Teacher. The Link School is an alternative learning provider working with young learners and their families across the City of Sunderland. There are two sites; The Link School, Springwell Dene which works with learners across Key Stage 1, 2 and 3 and The Link School, Pallion, which provides education for learners at Key Stage 4.

2018-2019 was another fantastic year for Link School which saw us officially become one all through school. We successfully, joined formally with the KS1 PRU and moved from Tudor Grove to our fantastically refurbished site at Springwell Dene which hosts some excellent new facilities for all of our pupils.

In addition, we retained our Inclusion Quality Mark and Anti-Bullying Platinum Award whilst also achieved the Investors in Careers Award and the Mental Health Chartermark (Bronze level). This demonstrates our continued commitment to ensuring our young people are at the heart of what we do.

The GCSE results for this year have also shown continuous improvement with 88% of pupils achieving a GCSE English qualification and 84% of pupils achieving a GCSE Maths qualification. We have increased the number of pupils who have left the school with five or more GCSE qualifications.

I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to take over the leadership of the Link School. My priority as Head Teacher is to ensure the Link School continues to grow on its journey to becoming outstanding. This can only happen with you and your support. Being a mum of two girls, I am very much aware of the importance of family and I really do believe you and your children, as part of our Link school family have the strength and passion to ensure that this happens together.

As the Head teacher of the school, I am looking forward to getting to know you and your children over the coming months whilst ensuring children are safe, happy and achieving well whilst they are in our care

Donna Walker