Outputs and Resources from Care Home Friends and Neighbours: Intergenerational Linking
Care Home Friends and Neighbours: Intergenerational Linking was originally funded to run from 2019-2022.
We are pleased to share a range of outputs and resources from the project, including our full research report and a practical guide to Intergenerational Linking for schools and care homes, as well as other materials to help support new intergenerational links.
We hope the below will be useful to you:
A practical guide to Intergenerational Linking
Download our free guide. It shares information, tips and learning from the project, to help create more intergenerational connections between schools and care homes.
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Care Home FaNs: Intergenerational Linking full research report
Download our full research report – “Discovering the untapped potential and social value of connecting younger people with older people living in care homes”.
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Care Home FaNs: Intergenerational Linking research summary
Download our research report summary – We have condensed our full research report into an 8 page summary which highlights the main findings.
Download
Additional resources
Our handbook above has lots of information about how to start an intergenerational connection. We recommend reading it if you are interested in starting Intergenerational Linking.
We also have the following resources to support you:
We’ve created some resources to help you get started with Intergenerational Linking.
Contact sheet: Getting to know your linked care home
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Contact sheet: Getting to know your linked school
Download
Sample letter: Introductory letter to parents & photo permission
Download
Take a look at these activity ideas, taken directly from our 11 local projects located across England, who have already done fantastic work connecting young people with older people living in care homes!
Hopefully these activities will give you some initial inspiration and you can adapt them to best suit your own link.
Activity ideas for Intergenerational Linking
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We also have lots of step-by-step activity ideas on our Remote Intergenerational Linking page.
See our Remote Intergenerational Linking activities
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In 2022 we created the ‘Become a Care Home Friend’ Challenge, designed to get more young people thinking about and connecting with care homes. The Challenge consists of 10 weeks of activities, differentiated for Key Stages 1-3. Although the initial time period has ended, the resources remain a great tool for Intergenerational Linking.
See our Become a Care Home Friend Challenge activities
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Care Home FaNs: Intergenerational Linking originally ran from 2019-2022 in 11 locations across England. Each location made a video spotlighting their local project.
Watch these videos for inspiration about what you could do in your setting, and for more information about the benefits and impacts of Intergenerational Linking from those who have already taken part.
Remote connections, such as those that take place over video call, can be a great way of connecting.
We found in our project that remote connections can play a valuable role in preparing generations to meet in person for the first time, as well as keeping the connection going when face-to-face meets aren’t possible.
We have some advice to support you with video calls:
Connecting via video calls mindmap
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Video calls top tips
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We’ve pulled together a list of books that might be helpful in preparing children for connecting with older people living in care homes.
Suggested book list
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You may like to reflect on the following information and use it as a guide in your intergenerational activities.
Safeguarding
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The following information about Curriculum Links might be helpful:
Intergenerational Linking – Curriculum Links
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