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