As part of the lead-up to the €1.5B SKA (Square Kilometre Array) project, several next-generation radio telescopes and upgrades are already being built around the world, including LOFAR (The Netherlands), ASKAP (Australia), Meerkat (South Africa), EVLA (USA), eMERLIN (UK), and Apertif (The Netherlands). Most of these projects have several science goals, but they have one goal in common, which is to survey the radio continuum emission from galaxies, in order to understand the formation and evolution of galaxies over cosmic time, and the cosmological parameters and large-scale structures which drive it. In pursuit of this goal, the different teams are developing techniques such as multi-scale deconvolution, source extraction and classification, and multi-wavelength cross-identification. Furthermore, these projects share specific science goals, which in most cases require further definition before a well-planned survey can be executed. Finally, we note that these new instruments each have different strengths, and coordination of surveys between them can help maximise the science from each of them.

We have therefore established the SKA PAthfinder Radio Continuum Survey (SPARCS) Working Group, with the following goals:

1)   To coordinate developments of techniques, to avoid duplication of effort and ensure that each project has access to best practice.

2)   To hold cross-project discussions of the specific science goals, to ensure cross-fertilisation of ideas and optimum survey strategies.

3)   To coordinate the surveys in their choice of area, depth, location on the sky, and other survey parameters, to maximise the science return from the surveys.

4) To distil the SKA pathfinder experiences into input to the SKA