Can I first of all welcome you to our latest idea for keeping families and young people up to date with our newest developments – the Principal’s blog.

I am aiming to write this on a weekly basis to ensure you are all kept in the loop and have an better understanding of the developments within the New Bridge Group.

As you know we opened the doors to our new school, Hollinwood Academy, last week and I have been delighted with the way the children and young people have settled. It doesn’t come as a surprise as we have recruited an excellent team to support them. We are still awaiting the handover of the ball hall, dining rooms and soft play centre but I have been informed that this will take place next week! The children and young people have coped brilliantly with our interim arrangements. I am aware that we have asked for nominations for Parent Governors for the Local Governing Body of Hollinwood Academy and if anyone wants to discuss these roles please feel free to contact me.

Staying on the Roman Road site can I thank all our transport providers and families for their careful driving in and around the site. We have a transport circulation plan but are waiting until we get full handover of the site before we start to mark the external areas for parking, access, pedestrian access etc. Again we are hopeful that this can happen in the next couple of weeks.

We are currently using Hollinwood Academy to support our Lumenus and Digit4ll pathways and also Future Finders, our new post 19 venture. These groups are all using some of the first floor classrooms prior to their move up to the Medtia Square building later in the term. The young people have behaved in a really mature manner and are helping us out in this interim period. The lease for Medtia Square is presently with our legal teams and we are awaiting their recommendations before we move to our town centre base.

There have been a number of changes at the Learning Centre over the summer. A group of New Bridge Horizon’s young people are now based in the middle wing and this has proved a really successful move for them as they can now access more specialist facilities. Our Year 12s are now revelling in the fact that they don’t need to wear school uniforms – cue the latest fashions!!

I have had a hectic week working alongside other North West schools in developing a peer to peer self-review model. As the Ofsted framework continues to develop and change it is important that our schools continue to strive for excellence. Working alongside similar schools in Greater Manchester will allow us to learn from others. This peer to peer review model will ensure that your children benefit from not only what we offer but also from the best practice in the region. Likewise we can assist other schools on their excellence journeys.

Anyhow that’s it for this week – have a great weekend!

Graham