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 our staff teams, that we have hit the ground running.

Of course, there are challenges with the early parts of any term, but I know that the patience and kindness of our staff will ensure that any lingering nerves or uncertainties are handled with care.

This week, I wanted to share some highlights from around the MAT that have taken place this week.

My focus this week is on some of our schools, but I hope to share updates from across the wider MAT and Group over the coming weeks and months.

At Hawthorns, there are clearly plenty of PE stars with the updates on Twitter, but this week, I spotted 2 certificate winners from Pine Class and Aspen Class.

Well done, boys!

Spring Brook Upper and Lower shared news of their Ofsted visit, which saw Spring Brook Academy receive the ‘good’ rating. Well done to everyone involved in this.

Ofsted ratings are important, but just as important are the smiles on the pupils’ faces, like the ones on the boys from Class 5 taking part in their forest school session this week.

At Samuel Laycock, some of the pupils have been getting crafty with cooking, making chocoldate truffles to share with their staff teams.

They looked delicious and how thoughtful to share their creations with others. It sounds as though they gave them the ‘taste test’ first though. Quite right too! My office is at Spring Brook Upper for next time…

At Hollinwood Academy, each class provided a little update from their first few weeks in last week’s blog. You can take a look at that here:

https://www.hollinwoodacademy.org/2023/09/15/hwa-blog-15-9-23/ 

New Bridge School share updates about all kinds of learning opportunities on their Facebook account, but this week I noticed a science experiment about ‘Awe and Wonder…’

The young people from 7TAN were dressed in lab coats and goggles, which is partly for safety, but also about helping them to really think like scientists!

This kind of attention to detail makes a difference to learners, and it’s great to see just how much effort our teachers and support staff put into every single learning opportunity. 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, and I look forward to sharing more updates next week.

Clare