Supporting stronger communities: The Unity Community initiative at Dixons Unity Academy

At Dixons, we recognise the importance of community engagement in challenging educational and social disadvantage, and fostering a sense of belonging amongst our communities, students and families.

We manage the aspects of our mission that sit within our school gates extremely well, but beyond the school gates, we are doing more to support our students and families. Whether it is the tireless work of our designated safeguarding leads, or the innovation in supporting families we have seen during and since the pandemic, we go above and beyond. We set the standard. We raise the bar.

At Dixons Unity Academy in Leeds, the team has worked incredibly hard to establish their community hub, ‘Unity Community’. Their community-focused initiative supports one of the academy’s big moves focused around developing stronger community and parental links.

As a trust, we believe connecting with the communities in which our schools serve is the right thing to do for a lot of reasons, but one clear data driven reason tells us that schools with close links to their communities, have stronger community relationships and higher attendance. We endeavour for our schools to be civic anchors within their local communities.

Their community hub serves the school’s community with a weekly food bank, uniform exchange, employment advice and numerous community events. The school has an ongoing commitment to ease the pressures of the cost-of-living crisis for the families its serves. The academy invites members of the community to join and contribute to the Unity Community. The social impact venture, and its different initiatives has had an incredibly positive impact on the school community.

Visit our Dixons OpenSource website to find out more and see what we have to offer: www.dixonsos.com.