What an amazing week! It is not often that I am short of words but after attending the British Education Awards at the Hilton in Manchester on Wednesday evening, even I struggled. As you are quite possibly aware, Jack Bayley was awarded a National Special Achievement Award for the progress he made during his time at New Bridge.

It was an amazing experience for Jack, myself and Sul Miah, our Director of Equality and Diversity, to represent our Group. In his acceptance speech Jack thanked all the staff and his fellow pupils and students. Our social media accounts went into overload, these are a few of the comments:

‘WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE JB!!!’
‘Fantastic news and thoroughly deserved, nice one Jack 👍🏾’
‘Well done jack new bridge is an amazing school proud to say my daughter goes there’
‘Amazing I’m so pleased for you , you must be so proud x It’s people like u that make me believe that my son has a future x’
‘Jack well done! You are an inspiration to all xxx’
‘Well done lad’
‘#everything is possible’

You can see more on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

Many families and individuals have approached me since Wednesday to tell me how this award has really brought home to them how our schools inspire our children and young people. Schools are just buildings, it’s the people inside that make a difference – our staff who share a passion for excellence and innovation; our staff who always go the extra mile; our staff who continuously strive for new and improved ways of teaching our children.

Last week I wrote about how when the teaching and assessment is successful, it improves the life chances for all our children. At the British Education Awards a young person from our Trust was given national recognition alongside A level students, degree students, vocational students and GCSE pupils. Jack sat alongside the highest achieving young people in the country. As a hard worker. As an achiever. As an equal.

Our ambition is for all our children and young people to start their journeys with us, enjoy their time with us, learn with us and achieve with us. Let’s carry on breaking down barriers, let’s get to those ‘top tables’, let’s be even more visible within our communities. What a privilege and what a week – makes it all worthwhile!

Have a great weekend,

Graham

You can find all Graham’s previous blog entries here