CEO's Blog - A Celebration of Wellbeing This week, I attended a Trust Wellbeing Celebration, where colleagues from across our schools and settings shared the ways they promote welbeing for staff, students and families at their sites. This was a fantastic...
Gallery
Our gallery shows a selection of photographs from across our Academy.
CEO Blog – 22.9.23
CEO Blog - 22.9.23 It's been another very busy week for everyone at New Bridge, and it has been so good to see how quickly all our staff and young people have settled into the routines of the new academic year. It is testament to the organisational skills of...
CEO Update – 15.9.23
CEO Update - 15.9.23 As the second week of the year comes to a close, I wanted to give you all an update on where I’ve visited and what I’ve been up to so far. It has been a pleasure to meet some more of our dedicated staff, parents and partners of our wonderful Multi...
A message from our new CEO, Clare John
A message from our new CEO, Clare John Hello and Happy Friday to you all, I hope the term has started well for you and your loved ones. I'm sure there have been plenty of nerves this week, but lots of excitment too, I hope. If you haven’t met me yet, or seen...
Summer Newsletters (July 2023)
Summer Newsletters (July 2023) We have reached the end of another academic year! Please find all the latest newsletters from across the New Bridge Group and the New Bridge Multi Academy Trust here: New Bridge Group New Bridge Group Summer Newsletter 2023...
What a week! We’ve seen a significant policy reversal from the government, Parents’ Evening, an unexpected school shutdown, HMI meetings and SATs…
It was interesting to read, after my blog of last week, that the Secretary of State had apparently reversed her policy with regards to all schools needing to convert to academies. The timing of the statement, coinciding with the announcement of many local election results, could be viewed as somewhat suspicious. Many news agencies didn’t even pick up on the policy change until late in the day. When you actually read the details of the change, however, she talks in terms of slowing down the proposals and targeting underperforming Local Authorities. I get the feeling that a number of ‘underperforming’ LAs will be scrutinised initially and the schools in those areas ‘encouraged’ to academise. In many ways the move could be perceived as a political gesture aimed at keeping a number of the more successful LAs happy. I think the policy direction will remain typically unchanged for many (northern based) schools and LAs. Interestingly, many school leaders commented this week on the academisation of the whole system being driven by economic savings rather than by educational improvement. The treasury appears concerned about the sustainability of funding both LAs and a more school based system – one system has to change significantly!
I believe Tuesday’s Parents’ Evening at the school site was going particularly well until around 6.30pm when a large part of the local area experienced a huge power cut. I was at another school at the time but thankfully it was a bright and pleasant evening and New Bridge was evacuated safely. Little did we know at that point, though, that the power cut had severely damaged our electrical board and circuits, affecting our entire ICT infrastructure along with our phone lines. Our team tried to repair the damage late into the night but unfortunately at 10.30pm I had to make the call to say that we wouldn’t be able to open the New Bridge School site the following day. With all our systems being down we were unable to notify families through our website, by email or text and we had to rely on our social media pages and local radio stations to issue updates. North West Electric managed to restore the power supply to the school on Wednesday afternoon and we were able to start getting messages out. Unfortunately very little of this was within our area of control and all I can do is apologise for the inconvenience it caused you and your children.
Yesterday we met with one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) with responsibility for children and young people with additional needs. It was refreshing to hear that Ofsted are now trying to work much more in partnership with schools. She certainly left us with food for thought!
And finally, the SATs. I am certain that many of you struggle, as I do, with the frequency and content of some of the national standardised tests. Our team are presently working on the ‘New Bridge Dashboard’ (possibly to be renamed the ‘New Bridge Route Planner’) which will assess the progress your child makes in areas such as independence, communication, personal qualities, working with others, keeping safe, being healthy and being creative as well as the academic areas. Subordinate clause, anyone?
Have a great weekend,
Graham
Location
New Bridge Multi Academy Trust
Roman Road
Hollinwood
Oldham
OL8 3PH
School Hours
Weekends: Closed
Phone & Email
0161 870 9386
info@newbridgegroup.org