It was great to meet so many of you at our New Bridge School and Hollinwood Academy Parents’ Evenings this week. I know our team really value the opportunity to discuss the progress your children are making across all the various subject areas. I am looking forward to our Key Stage 5 evenings at the Learning Centre and Medtia Square next week.

If you have not yet had chance, please take a few minutes to fill in the parents’ questionnaire that is available on our websites and can also be found here. Your views really matter to us and I know the heads of all our sites spend a significant amount of time scrutinising your comments.

Our weekly blogs across the Group are now becoming a little competitive! I read last week that our new Head Boy, Jack, had over 2000 views and 70 likes on his first blog entry. He really has set the bar very high – I don’t think I know 20 people who would be interested in my blogs, let alone 2000. What a brilliant achievement, well done Jack! It was also wonderful to read of Matthew’s plans to ensure our young people at Medtia Square are brought even closer to our local communities.

Our Group has always believed that all our young people across the organisation should have direct access to our communities. It was one of the reasons that all our centres have facilities designed and built to be used by local people. New Bridge School has the swimming pools and theatre, Hollinwood Academy the soft play centre and the training and development centre, the Learning Centre has the nursery and crèche and Medtia Square has the Atrium Café. This outward facing strategy is now starting to pay real dividends with more and more of our young people moving into the world of work and even more volunteering in our communities. I am certain that with Matthew’s ideas we will see even more engagement.

It was my absolute privilege to visit Hawthorns School in Ashton on Wednesday when we were asked to support the school with their internal review. I visit many schools in all areas of the country and I must say that what I saw on Wednesday was truly outstanding. I saw staff, at every level, who understood the children and ensured that their carefully crafted teaching and support contributed to and ensured excellent learning. I witnessed children who were happy and engaged. I heard that the leadership and management directly contributed to an ethos that, if it could be bottled, would be worth a fortune. As I said in my blog last week, our Group will continue to forge links with the very best schools so we can continue to improve our own practice. What an amazing school – truly inspiring. I’m certain we will work together in the future (and they are only 10 minutes down the motorway!)

Anyway, that’s it for another week. Have a great weekend everyone and I’ll see more of you on Wednesday evening,

Graham