Gallery

Our gallery shows a selection of photographs from across our Academy.

CEO’s Blog – 24th March 2023

CEO's Blog - 24th March 2023 Our Organisation... The weeks are flying by and we're nearly at the end of the Spring term, so here's a snapshot of life at every one of our schools and settings. We're growing all the time, but our offer remains the best in special...

CEO’s Blog – 17th March 2023 – ‘Thank You!’

CEO's Blog - 17th March 2023  'Thank You!'   Well, if you've been following the updates on social media this week, you might just have noticed that almost 100 of our young people have been lucky enough to travel to Disneyland Paris. A trip that started on Monday...

CEO’s Blog (10th March 2023)

CEO's Blog (10th March 2023)   It was International Women's Day this week, and it was great to see our schools and settings marking the occasion with their activities and learning opportunities. Of course, we shouldn't only celebrate our women and girls for just...

We are looking for our next CEO…

We are looking for our next CEO... It's probably been the worst kept secret for a while, but I'm writing my blog this week to let everyone know that we are actively looking for the next CEO of the New Bridge Multi Academy Group and MAT. After many years working as...

CEO’s Blog – Student Voice (24th February 2023)

CEO's Blog - Student Voice (24th February 2023)   A few weeks ago, before the half term break, I said I would be reporting on how we listen to the Student Voice across our MAT and wider Group. Well, this week, I'm able to do just that, as some of our schools and...

GrahamSometimes you get weeks where everything starts to come together – I’m pleased to say this week has been one of those.

At long last, after what appears to be months of negotiations, we have the keys for Medtia Square. Our premises and health and safety teams are presently working hard to ensure that the building is safe and fit for purpose.

As you are aware, we are anticipating that some of our groups will move up to this town centre venue in the New Year. We will be planning around a number of our New Bridge Horizons groups being based at Medtia Square, along with the post 16 students on our Lumenus and Digit4ll pathways, and of course the building will also be the campus for our post 19 Future Finders.

I am aware that many of you will have questions relating to the move and I have arranged an initial meeting for families directly affected next Thursday 26th November at 5pm in the theatre at New Bridge School. I am hopeful that in a couple of weeks’ time I will also be able to offer you the opportunity to look round the new building.

It promises to be an exciting time. I’m looking forward to adding this building to our group to further progress our community and employment strategy.

Thank you to all our families who joined us for our Parents’ Evening at New Bridge School on Tuesday. I trust you were given a full and accurate account of the work your child has completed and you were able to ask questions and speak to the teams who support your child. We are presently running at an impressive 45% of families attending parents’ evenings across all our sites. As always, if you have ideas of how to improve them please drop Karen Bingley, our Parent Partnership Manager, or your child’s Pastoral Manager a quick email with your suggestions.

This week we held our first combined New Bridge School, Hollinwood Academy and New Bridge Horizons’ meeting with our Multi Academy Trust Directors. A number of issues were presented and discussed, including the pressures on school budgets, the new curriculum and assessment arrangements, our teaching school bid and our vision for post 19 provision. Please ensure you contact any of your parent governor representatives should you require any information.

I am presently writing this blog on a train hurtling up the West Coast mainline, after meeting with Edward Timpson, the Minister for Children and Families, in London. I was grateful he was able to meet, and that myself and a couple of other colleagues were able to put forward a perspective relating to post 19 provision and the outcomes for our young people. We discussed a number of issues including the direction of travel for Education, Health and Care Plans, the challenge of offering our young people with more complex needs post 19 provision that is more appropriate, the ‘perceived limitations’ of post 19 funding streams and how we can further increase the numbers of our young people who want to move into paid employment, volunteering and/or live independently. The minister was particularly interested and I am very optimistic that an ongoing dialogue can continue. I hope to set up a visit so that he can see, at first hand, some of our creative solutions here in Oldham.

I’m looking forward to meeting our Learning Centre families next week at Parents’ Evening there. Parents of our Year 13 and Year 14 students who are currently on the Activ8, Digit4ll and Lumenus pathways based at the school site are also welcome to attend (even though you may have been to the school event this week), as staff from both Bridging the Gap and Future Finders will be there to explain the exciting opportunities for next September that your child may wish to find out more about. See you all on Tuesday evening!

Have a great weekend,

Graham

Location

New Bridge Multi Academy Trust
Roman Road
Hollinwood
Oldham
OL8 3PH

School Hours

M-F: 8am – 4pm
Weekends: Closed

Phone & Email

0161 870 9386

info@newbridgegroup.org