On Thursday of last week, a small group of children from Darite Primary went to RNAS Culdrose to take part in the second day of the regional tournament of the First Lego League. The team 'The Darite Virtual Pros' were up against a total of 60 other teams over the two-day tournament, which also included secondary schools! The children were judged on their attitude, professionalism, teamwork and graciousness towards each other and the other teams. No-one was able to top their score and, for the second year in a row, Darite Primary were awarded the trophy for the Robot Performance! 

To the children's delight, they were also awarded the Champion's Award for the highest overall score for the day. Winning the Regionals has earned 'The Darite Virtual Pros' a place to compete at the National Finals in Harrogate, against all the other regional winners from across the whole of the UK in the summer term. We are extremely proud of their achievement and look forward to seeing how they get on. Good Luck!   Click here to read more about their innovation project and robot coding game.  

Bridge Schools is pleased to announce the recent appointment of Chris Wathern who will be joining the Trust from Easter as Headteacher at Wadebridge Primary Academy. Chris is an experienced Head with a strong track record of leadership.  He has successfully led schools in the UK and abroad bringing a wealth of experience with him. 

Thank you to Mrs Lee-Elkins for the role she has played recently as Acting Head.  We have a strong team of staff at Wadebridge Primary and are really looking forward to the next chapter in supporting Mr Wathern lead the school.

Bridge Schools is celebrating its tenth anniversary

The multi-academy trust has grown significantly over the last decade one successful Ofsted has led to another, and more schools have joined. There are now 14 primaries across the county, ranging from Trenode, a small church school in the south-east of Cornwall, across to large primaries such as Wadebridge on the north coast and Brunel in Saltash.

The trust has attracted attention for its success in supporting schools to improve and the many positive Ofsted grades have reflected this over the years. Brunel moved from an Ofsted grade of Inadequate to Good with Outstanding and it was noted that with the support of the trust, school leaders and staff worked hard to transform the quality of education; whilst at Wadebridge Primary Academy, Ofsted commented on the fact that, Trust leaders know the school well. They check that senior leaders actions make the necessary impact on the education that pupils receive. Staff say that the support of the trust positively impacts their well-being and workload. In 2023, Blisland Primary Academy also received a glowing report and Ofsted inspectors pointed out that; The trust and the school, work together effectively to realise their ambition for pupils. They have utilised collaborative opportunities with other trust schools to develop the effectiveness of provision. 

Bridge Schools have also spent the past ten years building collaborative ways of working across the trust, developing a shared set of values and a creative approach that has been recognised and admired in its wider projects both in Cornwall and regionally. Some of these have included arts performances with all our schools and parents at Carnglaze Caverns and digital animations created by the children, then screened online with children and staff from all 14 schools. Trust wide poetry projects have also taken children's work as far as the Wilfred Owen Museum in France, where international links formed have resulted in a project planned for summer 2024 that will see children's work written about World War 1, scattered on biodegradable paper containing wildflower seeds over The Somme. Environmental projects on a large scale have also led to a partnership with Eden - where Bridge Schools pupils became the first children to become Eden Ambassadors and teach other children around the world how to care for and write about the planet.

Adrian Massey, Chief Executive said: I am privileged to lead an incredibly talented set of staff with supportive trustees and governors who work hard to give the very best education we can to support all our children and families.

We hope to welcome more schools soon to develop more ideas and expertise. We are a determined community of schools and teams; we know the power of working together. Through individual spirit and a sharing culture, we aim to put children's learning first.

Bridge Schools continues to go from strength to strength a testament to their motto that they are stronger together.

We are almost at the end of a very busy first half term. The children have settled well into their new classes and the determination they have displayed in the first few weeks, from our little learners through to year 6 has already yielded positive steps.

Thank you for helping us with improved attendance of the children. It might seem counterproductive but please only keep the children at home for more serious illnesses or D&V. Sniffles and mild cough, the children need to attend school to build back resilience as we continue to work through gaps in learning.

This Friday sees another whole Trust INSET day where our staff get the opportunity to share their knowledge and skills with each other to continue to deliver a comprehensive suite of creative approaches to develop and advance the children’s learning in both core and wider curriculum subjects. We look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Monday 30th October after their well-deserved half term autumn break.

Thank you for your continued support.

Adrian Massey - Chief Executive

It was a busy summer for the Bridge Schools premises team and contractors to work through maintenance schedules in the school buildings, upgrading facilities across school sites.  These improvements will certainly make a difference in all our schools for both children and staff.

There has been recent media coverage regarding Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) and its use in educational settings. The Department for Education (DfE) has recently changed its guidance to education settings on the management of RAAC to take a more precautionary approach. Bridge Schools sites are not affected by this decision as there is no RAAC in any of our buildings and therefore they will continue to function as normal.

It has been so good to see all the children returning this September in their smart uniforms, catching up with friends and looking forward to sharing their learning experiences in their new classrooms. We also welcome our new children that are just starting out whether that be in nursery, reception or have moved to the area during the summer holidays.

Staff are excited to share new learning opportunities with the children as the new term gets underway.

Wadebridge Primary Academy continues to be a good school, with an ambitious curriculum designed by leaders where “learning captures pupils’ interest, starting in early years”, according to a new report by Ofsted following a visit to the school in April.

The report highlights a number of positive characteristics in terms of the achievement of pupils, quality of teaching, behaviour, safety and leadership and management.   

 Inspectors who visited Wadebridge Primary Academy were really positive about the friendly atmosphere of the school and how supportive everyone was of each other. Rebecca Whitlock – Headteacher was very pleased that the hard work of her pupils and staff had been recognised by Ofsted as the school continues to work hard to ensure each child reaches their full learning potential.

As Chief Executive of Bridge Schools I am extremely proud of Wadebridge Primary Academy and the achievements of everyone working and learning there. This Ofsted report recognises the hard work and dedication of staff and children alike as well as how we work as a Trust to support each other and share best practice. We will continue to work together to build on this success in the future.

Nine of our schools have been taking part in an exciting multi-school, creative project with Bodmin Airfield and internationally renowned poet, Sally Crabtree. Blisland and Lanlivery got to visit the airfield, where the children enjoyed a tour with the pilots and the opportunity to learn about the operational aspects, sit in the planes and deepen learning from different aspects of their curriculums. Some classes met with a Spitfire pilot and learnt more about WW2 transport, while other schools learnt about the history of flight and had the chance to interview Polly Vacher MBE, who has flown solo around the world.

A number of schools have been busy creating digital learning resources that are being shared across the Trust – enabling children to show off their learning and in turn, teach one another about various aspects of aviation, whilst being inspired in their writing.

Poetry from nine schools formed part of a ‘parcel of poems’ that was handed over to French pilot, Iza; who flew the work back to France to share with schools there, where international links between Bridge Schools and France will continue into the autumn term. As Sally Crabtree said, she is delighted that the project is letting the children’s imagination, knowledge and collaborative creativity ‘take flight’!

Groups of children from across our 14 schools took part in a Whole Trust Values Day event on Friday 24th March at Gunnislake Primary. Children worked together happily mixing with children from other schools within the Trust, understanding they are part of something much bigger, as they made their way around the exciting activities. The whole day was an extraordinary opportunity to see the trust values in action. Fabulously rich sessions showcasing much talented work.

We hope you enjoy our Bridge Schools Trust Advent Calendar chocked full of Christmas performances and messages from each of our Schools and Central Teams. 

Click the picture or this link to view the calendar. 

 We hope you enjoy the lovely work the children have done. 

 Best wishes, Adrian Massey - Chief Executive 

 VIEWING NOTES: The Advent calendar is optimally viewed in full screen on a high resolution monitor (desktop or laptop) and by expanding any video to full window size by using the 'in window' controls, where you can also adjust the sound. If you don't see the view to the left (or similar - each box will only be revealed as each day arrives) then use your browser menu under 'View' to 'Zoom-Out'. Use the 'Back' box in the bottom right corner to navigate back to the main screen when you have clicked in to view each days content. The Advent will work on a mobile device but you may experience a slightly different view. If you spot any bugs please email John Wareham. 

Watching the children from all of the schools take part and perform on the stage at Carnglaze Caverns today was just amazing. It was a reminder of why we do our jobs – to see children’s beaming faces as they surprise themselves with the quality of their performance thanks to the input and time from staff.

Laura Yeo – teacher at Looe Primary and Trust Music Lead had the initial idea of bringing everyone together for a whole trust music event. That was back in September when it all seemed so far away in the calendar. And then today came.

Carnglaze were fantastically accommodating in helping to make the logistics work for us – we had some fun with the parking but got there. 

The children were fantastic – they always are - but that is down to the time and thought staff put in to thinking through an idea with them and then rehearsing to help them look so good on stage. And my goodness they did. We had all sorts of different ideas for the audiences to enjoy. Nick Hart (Musician and trustee), Sean Hewitt (Professional Artist and well known to many of our schools) and Jenna Brewer (Professional Dancer training in London) were our judges for the day. A dubious honour to be awarded as you never please everyone! However. In the morning 1st place went to Lanlivery, 2nd to Brunel and 3rd to Polperro. In the afternoon 1st went to Trenode; 2nd to St Cleer and 3rd to Duloe. The overall winner for the day was Lanlivery for their singing ability, costumes, movement and cohesion in working together. Really well done to them and everyone who took part – it was a pleasure to be there today and see the children perform so well.

Everyone works hard to make every day a special day, thank you. Events like this showcase the capacity of the trust working together. A group of 14 schools, sharing ideas to realise the very best we can for all our children. Thank you to all the parents who came to watch the children, I hope you enjoyed the performances.

Best wishes,
Adrian Massey - Chief Executive

We were delighted to welcome, for the second time, Nerys and the Royal Institution's Science roadshow to Brunel Primary and Nursery Academy. The 'We Have The Power' morning show investigated the different ways in which electricity can be made and looked at the impact of fossil fuels on climate change. The show created lots of excitement, explosions, bangs and flashes. We also discovered how the first battery was made using copper, zinc and …frog juice!

In the afternoon, children from across the Bridge Schools Trust joined us to learn how to be rocket scientists. This was full of surprises, demonstrating the magic of science, which thrilled and enthralled us all. The purpose of the roadshow is to raise the profile of science, ignite interest and possibly even motivate pupils to pursue a career in science or engineering.

If you are interested, the Royal Institution have a dedicated You Tube channel demonstrating all the fun experiments that you can easily do at home using everyday objects and substances. For example: how to make bouncing eggs, rubber band cannons and soap powered boats. Search Ri Experimental and let us know how you get on!

Brunel Primary and Nursery Academy has received a glowing Ofsted report, following a visit in June, with judgements of ‘Good’ in all areas, and judgements of ‘Outstanding’ in Early Years Provision and Personal Development.

It has been a long journey for Brunel with reinspection delayed due to COVID.

Thank you to so many staff, parents, carers and governors for their support and showing faith in the quality of Brunel’s provision. Everyone in Bridge Schools is delighted that the hard work of staff at Brunel has been recognised in this inspection. The care and attention that all staff put into the children at Brunel goes above and beyond.

We also had another great year of results, with children making extraordinarily good progress, particularly our highfliers! Great news for the staff and the wider trust in Bridge Schools.

If you would like to view the full report, please view here.

On Monday, 18th July, children from across 5 of our schools attended a large scale environmental event at Eden. Children from Duloe, Wadebridge, St Cleer and Polperro represented Bridge Schools as ‘Eden Ambassadors’ welcoming children from across the county, whilst explaining the work they had done as part of a 2 year ‘Found Words’ project and experiencing some ‘behind the scenes’ activities with the Eden staff. Lanlivery School were also present, as one of the schools attending the ‘Schools for All Seasons’ project, who have been writing and performing their own songs. The day ended in music and celebration with nationally acclaimed sound artists and beatboxer, Jason Singh (BBC Green Planet).

The Eden Ambassadors also had the chance to meet Eva John, colleague of Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris (author and illustrator of ‘The Lost Words’ book – which inspired the Bridge Schools / Eden collaboration). The children also received a lovely gift – three beautifully painted ‘labyrinth’ stones from Jackie Morris, the artist. If you haven’t seen her work, you can see examples of it here: https://www.jackiemorris.co.uk/ and if you missed the wonderful resources that our children made for other children to use across the country, you can find more detail about it here: https://www.edenproject.com/learn/schools/school-lesson-plans/found-words

Dani Towe, who was there at Eden with the children on Monday said; ‘We were so proud of everyone. To be given the role of ‘Eden Ambassador’ gave our children a very unique experience, which they will never forget. We would like to extend our thanks to Bran Howell and the Eden Education Team, as well as Eva John, Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane for their support in this special project, which began in lockdown. Being together at Eden was a great reminder that whilst we started this with online learning, there is nothing better than a fac-to-face celebration. We were also delighted that some of the Eden Ambassadors who had left our schools and gone on to Year 7 made a special effort to attend – a real sign that Bridge Schools is one community within a larger community and that projects like this remain important to our children as special memories, even when they have moved on to secondary schools.”

Bridge Schools is an empowered learning community committed to creating the best environment for its pupils to learn and grow. Our schools all have their individual identities and their own stories to tell. Bridge Stories allows our pupils the chance to explore, to connect and to have their voices heard. Stories are an essential part of the human experience: they inspire, they bring hope, they reassure us, they teach us something new and they allow us to imagine. They connect us.

Our young journalists are creating the stories, features and messages they wish to share - reporting from their own schools or reaching out to report on events across the trust. As such, they are active members of a much wider community, exploring the experiences of others, whilst reflecting on the ways in which our Bridge values have been brought to life as they document these through interviews, articles and images.

Following an external review and project support from the professional marketing team ‘Stranger Collective’, we are proud that our trust ethos was recognised and validated. We are ‘stronger together’ because of our shared values, ‘stronger together’ because of our shared practice, and essentially, we are ‘stronger together’ because we embody the mindset and the research that states that ‘collective teacher efficacy’ has the greatest impact on teaching and learning (Hattie, 2019). Inspirational teachers help foster curiosity and as a consequence, our inspired and curious children have stories they want to share with the world. Hence, the concept of Bridge Stories was born.

See for yourself how this philosophy shines throughout the Bridge Stories and we are sure that you will see why we are so proud to be sharing this new platform with our schools, families and external partners.

We had such good feedback for our Bridge Schools Trust Advent Calendar that we thought we'd leave it up for January too so you can enjoy the great snippets from each of our schools. 

Click the picture or this link to view the calendar. 

 We hope you enjoy the lovely work the children have done. 

 Best wishes, Adrian Massey - Chief Executive 

 VIEWING NOTES: The Advent calendar is optimally viewed in full screen on a high resolution monitor (desktop or laptop) and by expanding any video to full window size by using the 'in window' controls, where you can also adjust the sound. If you don't see the view to the left (or similar - each box will only be revealed as each day arrives) then use your browser menu under 'View' to 'Zoom-Out'. Use the 'Back' box in the bottom right corner to navigate back to the main screen when you have clicked in to view each days content. The Advent will work on a mobile device but you may experience a slightly different view. If you spot any bugs please email John Wareham. 

Good morning everyone, An auspicious day today with Remembrance. The eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month. I know everyone will find time today to remember the fallen. Our Trust English Lead Dani Towe has pulled together the two projects outlined below for our schools to be represented in France to commemorate Wilfred Owen and his poetry from the First World War; as well working with The Eden Project to allow our children’s work to be seen at COP26. Big projects to extend thinking and learning for the children and us as staff. Thank you to the school staff involved - you have put Bridge Schools out there on the world stage, demonstrating our commitment to these important issues

Poetry and poppies across the seas - Wilfred Owen Poetry Project: Linking Cornwall to Ors, France:

Last week, poetry created by pupils at Polperro Primary Academy and St Cleer Primary Academy was celebrated in a very special international project led by Dani and Sally Crabtree (international poet and official ambassador for National Poetry Day). Sally took the poems to be exhibited at the Wilfred Owen Museum in Ors, (see below) which is built upon the site of the forester’s house where Wilfred Owen hid in the cellar and wrote his last letter home to his mother the night before he was shot in 1917. The poetry also formed part of a special commemorative ceremony for the lead up to Remembrance Day. French pupils read out some of the poems in an evening concert attended by the local mayor, those serving in the forces and members of the Wilfred Owen Museum. The poems focus on the experiences of the soldiers in the trenches in World War 1 and are inspired by learning about Wilfred Owen and reading the poems of the great war poets, who used poetry to record the events and emotions of that time. 

We are very proud of the children’s work; the project really has shown the importance of cultural exchanges and creativity within a global pandemic. Having helped to draw the project together with Sally, we have worked with teachers and students who have shown real talent and creativity, as well as great empathy for the feelings of those brave soldiers. It was wonderful that Sally stayed in touch from France, sending through photos and clips of the ceremony that could be seen by the pupils in each school. It is also testament to the resilience and courage we have seen in our schools over the past 2 years that we can still come together to mark these important occasions – from different schools, in different geographical areas – with students of different ages; united in their determination to express the reasons why we remember the most poignant moments in history, and are thankful. 

Whilst all 90 poems from Bridge Schools are now in France on exhibition, Sally also judged the top 3 entries from each school and the winners will receive their prizes later this week.

Our collaboration with Eden takes us to Glasgow’s COP26!

Following the success of our large-scale collaborative project with Eden in the lockdowns based on ‘The Lost Words’, Eden have since taken it to be showcased at the ‘mini Eden’ built for COP 26 in Glasgow.

Our young ‘Eden Ambassadors’ (from Wadebridge, St Cleer, Duloe and Polperro) are now ‘teaching’ children across the world how to research like scientists and write pieces or create illustrations that contain an environmental message. Bran Howell (Eden) who is attending the event with Sir Tim Smit, has been talking about and promoting our project to many this week, including the Chilean President (Photo 3 below) and Sky Youth News. The majority of the children who took part in the project during lockdown have also had their written work featured on the resource. Here is a reminder of the webpage on the Eden website featuring the Eden Ambassadors and the work of those who took part in writing or drawing a piece for the project last year: https://www.edenproject.com/learn/schools/school-lesson-plans/found-words

We are all very proud of the work the children have produced and how articulately they conveyed the messages about conservation. 

Take some time today to remember and then reflect on those things in your life which make you feel fortunate.

Take care everyone.
Best wishes,
Adrian Massey - Chief Executive

Dear Parents,

Welcome back! I hope you are well and enjoyed the summer.  

The children have all returned to school, happy to see friends and start new learning. They look so smart and tidy in their uniforms, thank you. Everyone has seen a good start to term, we all look forward to increasing learning opportunities for your children.
Our schools are taking part in the school-led tutoring programme where appropriate, using recovery funding to release staff to take small groups to focus efforts to make good progress. Despite three lockdowns, self-isolation and all the challenges COVID brought to us, we still managed to average our normal 3 points of progress with the children. This is a fantastic result to keep learning moving forwards and testament to a strong staff team who did everything they could to support your children. The same staff team are in place- with a few new welcome additions, I have every confidence they will be able to do the same again this year for your children.

 Buildings and IT Projects 

We took the opportunity to complete a number of building projects while the schools were empty over the summer, investing £441,000 as well as working through upgrading lighting systems spending £81,000. The final parts of the IT spend were completed providing 470 iPads, 10 iPad charging trolleys, 30 Desktop PC’s and monitors, 50 webcams, 25 Staff laptops, 3 new servers (moved to cloud-based systems), 16 new 65” Classroom Smart screens and 3 new 75” Hall screens, 3 Telephone systems, 4 whole school Wi-Fi systems, and 4 schools were upgraded to Gigabit broadband, with over £100K of DfE funding secured. All in all, a successful year of improved resources for children and learning. 

COVID-19 

18 months ago, COVID changed everything for all of us, and the fight continues. The government’s rules have changed, but we will continue to work within them. Bubbles have gone, as have some of the follow-on aspects of guidance. I have copied some of that information provided by the Local Authority below. 

As you will have seen from media, there are more cases around, Cornwall had a huge spike during the summer with Boardmasters and other events as well as the increase in visitor numbers. This has now thankfully dropped to come back in line with England’s average, but we all need to continue to take care. We have already seen several positive cases across schools. We know that you may find this concerning, but we are continuing to monitor the situation. The information in this letter is to inform you of the current situation and provide advice on how to support your child. Please be reassured that for most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness. 

Following the change in guidance on 19 July 2021, the school setting will continue to ensure confirmed cases of COVID-19 do not attend until the end of their self-isolation period but contact tracing within the school setting will no longer continue. To help prevent avoidable spread, we encourage staff to continue with the twice weekly LFD testing, follow-up any positive results with a confirmatory PCR test. Families need to be vigilant for symptoms, there are walk in testing facilities in Liskeard on Westbourne Car Park as well as Wadebridge. 

Advice to All Parents - Warn and Inform 

COVID-19 Guidance 

I would like to encourage all parents to consider taking up the offer of protection with two doses of the covid vaccine. You can book through the NHS portal. 

Book or manage your coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination - NHS (www.nhs.uk) 

If you have any concerns about the vaccine then please find links to the NHS Kernow website which has some Frequently Asked Questions to help you. 

 COVID-19 vaccine - Frequently asked questions - NHS Kernow CCG - NHS Kernow CCG 

Our schools remain open, and your child should continue to attend as normal if they remain well. Please speak to schools if you have any concerns. 

What to do if your child develops symptoms of COVID-19 

If your child develops symptoms of COVID-19 at any time, however mild, please isolate as a household and book a test for the person with symptoms (even if they have already taken a test). Symptoms of COVID-19 are: 

  A new, continuous cough, and/or 

 -  A temperature, and/or 

 -  A loss of, or change to, sense of test and/or smell. 

 You can book a test through https://www.nhs.uk/ask-for-a-coronavirus-test or by calling 119. If the test is negative, your child can return to school once they are well and have been fever free (without the support of paracetamol of Calpol) for at least 24 hours. 

 If the test is positive only unvaccinated members of your household over the age of 18 years must self-isolate for 10 days from the date symptoms started. If other household members become unwell they need to extend their isolation period as shown in this infographic. 

 Those who are clinically extremely vulnerable should be supported to minimise their contact with other people in the household during this period, regardless of whether others have symptoms or not. 

 Further information is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/stay-at-home-guidance-for-households-with-possible-coronavirus-covid-19-infection 

If you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, or they are worsening you can seek advice from NHS 111 at https://111.nhs.uk/ or by phoning 111. For most people, coronavirus (COVID-19) will be a mild illness.

Household members staying at home for 10 days will greatly reduce the overall amount of infection the household could pass on to others in the community. 

 How to stop COVID-19 spreading 

 There are things you can do to help reduce the risk of you and anyone you live with getting ill with Covid-19 

 Do       

- wash your hands with soap and water often – do this for at least 20 seconds 

- use hand sanitiser gel if soap and water are not available 

- wash your hands as soon as you get home 

- cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze 

- put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands afterwards 

- Keep indoor spaces as well ventilated as possible – let the fresh air in, even if for a short period a day 

- Participate in twice weekly LFD testing following national guidelines (recommended for 11 years and over). 

We encourage you to log your results here: https://www.gov.uk/log-test-site-covid19-results 

 Further Information 

 Further information is available at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/ 

 We want all our communities and schools to stay safe and well. By following the guidance above we can all play our part in reducing the number of cases. If new guidance is issued or things change, we will keep you informed. 

 I hope everyone enjoys a positive first half term. 

With all good wishes, 

 Adrian Massey And everyone in Bridge Schools   

Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope everyone continues to be well and you are enjoying the mini heatwave we have had over the last week.

Last summer when I wrote to you, we were only allowed to partially open our schools as we moved towards the summer holiday. I think we were all hoping COVID would disappear from our lives in the Autumn of last year – how wrong we were. Thankfully, we have had very low numbers of cases in our schools with only 12 occasions we have needed to close class bubbles this year. All children have been allowed back in school since March and the NHS vaccination programme has been rolled out to almost all adults. As you will have seen from communications from school heads, despite the law changing this week with the relaxing of some measures we are keeping everything in place in all our schools until the end of term, just to be safe.

Children are making better than expected progress
We have all adapted to the new circumstances using remote learning during the year where needed and utilising the small amount of additional catch-up money to ensure children make rapid progress. Normally we aim for 3 points of progress in an academic year one for each term but this time last year, with some children not having been able to be in school – we talked to staff about increasing expectations to help children to close any gaps staff could see. I am delighted to report that overall children have met this increased expectation with most children making more than 3 points of progress, some have made more than 4. Considering the amount of time schools were closed to all but children from critical workers where we were working remotely, this is an incredibly strong picture and helps all the children in readiness for the next academic year. We have some extremely hard working and talented staff who have brought this about by working in partnership across the trust. Thank you for helping to get children to school at the allotted time, following the guidance in place and supporting children with home learning. This has all helped to keep our attendance figures high and enabled us to make this amount of progress with your children.

IT Investment
Remote learning has been a big success this year. Despite reduced income we protected IT budgets over the last two years, which turns out to have been a good decision. Our IT Team of one and 2 part time technicians were almost there with capability before lockdowns were announced but COVID hastened our plans. We learned from the parent questionnaire over 700 of you kindly completed for us and adapted our approach. By the time lockdown 3 came we switched overnight to remote learning after opening schools for just one day. Everyone has worked through new learning and the new opportunities this method of delivery provides. Microsoft Teams has enabled us to run whole Trust INSET days as well as keep all staff and children in touch with each other. The Executive Heads and I can quickly update all heads and schools on new guidance as well as sharing ideas to fresh challenges. During the last year we have invested £218,000 in IT infrastructure and hardware for children in all our schools including:

iPads x470
iPad case x470
iPad charging / security trolleys x9
Desktop PC x28
Desktop monitors x28
Staff laptops x23
Servers x3 (moved to cloud)
Smart screens x19
Telephone systems x2
Wifi systems x4
Webcams / headsets x50
Gigabit broadband x4 schools

Total investment: £218k

Buildings Improvements
Our small buildings team have stretched themselves to keep maintenance in buildings to a good standard. We are still advertising for two caretakers to join the team to increase capacity. Please email hr@bridgeschools.co.uk if you know of someone who is interested in joining the team.

We apply each year to the Department for Education for CIF (Condition Improvement Fund) money to improve our buildings. Due to the skill of the team in writing the bids, we have been successful every year. This year we will receive grants totalling: £441,311 to add improvements to our school buildings on top of over £5,500,000 we have received in previous years.

Brunel window and door replacements = £326,436.36
Darite safeguarding = £ 41, 593.01
Pelynt safeguarding = £ 44,632.58
St Cleer safeguarding = £28,650.49
The criteria are very tight, we aren’t able to apply for everything we might like but it all helps to improve the environment for our children, families and staff in which to work and learn.

Parent questionnaire about communications
Thank you to everyone who filled in the latest parent questionnaire. Almost 70% of you prefer email as the best method to send communication, to read on a smartphone. We are obviously keen to reach an even higher number of you to keep you informed. One of the items raised in the questionnaire was some parents felt there isn’t enough information about the trust. I try to put as much as I can on the website www.bridgeschools.co.uk and limit the amount you receive here by email to be the latest updates. We will share more information in the Autumn Term.

Farewell Year 6 – Class of ‘21
Thank you for all your best efforts working with us this year and the previous years. For listening, working, reading and writing, adding, multiplying and dividing, experimenting, singing, spelling, understanding and giving, running, painting, acting and climbing – the mountain that has been your final year of Primary Education! We hope you have learned all you need to. Remember us and go on to achieve great things, we all wish you the very best.

Team
We have an extraordinary group of people who have chosen to work with your children in Bridge Schools. Staff have gone above and beyond again this year to ensure your children have the very best opportunities possible. I would like to thank them for working through another extraordinary year to achieve great things for all the children in our schools. Governors, trustees and members have all given a great deal of time this year to test, challenge and support our ideas in delivering the recovery curriculum, my thanks also go to them. To you as parents working with us, I am also grateful. My greatest thanks and accolades go as ever to the children. This has been another topsy turvy year for them to navigate but they have done it, the assessments show their determination and ability to succeed despite the odds supported by all of us: staff, governors, trustees and parents working as one big Bridge Schools Team.

Our plan is to open all schools in September as normal, but we will see what happens with the Delta COVID variant and watch the news for the Prime Minister’s updates towards the end of the holiday. In the meantime, I hope everyone is able to stay safe and enjoy a lovely summer holiday, ready to face fresh challenges in the autumn.

With all good wishes,
Adrian Massey and everyone at Bridge Schools.

Dear everyone, There is so much to celebrate across Bridge Schools at the moment but this blog is just to say thank you – it’s thank a teacher day today!

As we are one team, I am thanking everyone, in whatever role you work you are there supporting children in getting the best education we can possibly manage – and our best is really strong!

So - in every language, in every way, thank you!
I hope you have had a great day!

Adrian Massey - Chief Executive