May Half Term Newsletter Summer 2023 New Bridge Group May Half Term Newsletter - Summer 2023 Please take a look at the New Bridge Group and Multi Academy Trust Half Term Newsletter, for a brief update on what's been going on this past half term! ...
Gallery
Our gallery shows a selection of photographs from across our Academy.
One of our own, flying the flag…
One of our own, flying the flag... This week, one of our Executive Directors, Shirley Woods Gallagher, had a piece published about preparing autistic students for the world of work. You can read it here:...
CEO’s Blog (5th May 2023)
CEO's Blog (5th May 2023) Hello everyone, I hope you are having a great week. This week, I wanted to talk about something that I believe has been one of the best parts of my job as a Multi Academy Trust CEO, and that is meeting the young people in our schools. It is...
CEO’s Blog – 28th April 2023
CEO's Blog - 28th April 2023 Happy Friday, everyone. I wanted to focus my blog this week, on sharing a message from our Chair of Trustees, Steve Williams, about the exciting news that we have appointed a new CEO for the New Bridge Group and New Bridge...
Thank you, Jenny Dunne
Thank you, Jenny Dunne Hi everyone, I wanted to take a moment this week, to express my gratitude for the incredible contributions Jenny Dunne has made during her time here with New Bridge. As you may have heard, Jenny has accepted a new position as the...
Welcome back. I hope you all had a restful and peaceful Easter break.
Back to school has proved as hectic as ever. It came as no surprise that we received the news that the Prime Minister was intending to call a snap general election. There have been rumours for quite a period of time.
Last weekend you may have seen the press coverage of the main teachers’ union annual conferences. Many of the headlines included grammar schools, school budgets, teacher retention and staff morale. Interestingly, there was very little media coverage of young people with additional needs and how the mainstream system is struggling to cope with their individual needs. Clearly grammar schools are much more of a hot topic than our children!
The number of children who require more of a personalised offer appears to be growing across the country. I am becoming increasingly concerned that mainstream schools, who have so many demands of their own, do not have the staff and resources to meet the needs of young people who may present as being ‘different’. I go into many Oldham mainstream schools and see amazing practice where children of all abilities and needs are truly included. I also visit some schools and units nationally, however, where I see isolated and unhappy children. It was interesting to read Matthew’s views earlier this month.
This week I worked with a mainstream school who have seen a considerable increase in the number of children who have just arrived from overseas. These children rarely speak any English and clearly some had experienced a very traumatic few months and in some cases, years. I was astonished to hear that these children, with limited or no language skills and burdened with dreadful early experiences, receive no more financial support than any of the other children in the school. The school then told me that they try to stretch their financial resources to offer the provision that these new children arriving from overseas require.
The complexity of need that all our children bring into our classrooms doesn’t appear to be reflected in the funding that we all as schools now receive. It will be interesting to see which political party, if any, tries to offer a more sustained solution to this significant challenge. Moreover, let’s see if any of these monies actually get into the classrooms to support our children!! It promises to be an interesting few weeks.
Next week sees the launch of our New Bridge Group lotto, a great way to support all our young people with the added bonus of the chance to win a guaranteed weekly prize of £25,000! Please click here to find out more and sign up – best of luck!
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