On Monday, 1st July, a unique event took place in France; a World War 2 plane scattered poems- written by the children of Bridge Schools -over The Somme. The poems, based on World War 1, were written onto special, biodegradable paper containing wildflower seeds: those of remembrance poppies for the UK, cornflowers for France and forget-me-nots for Germany. The flowers will now grow as living words to symbolise peace and friendship, whilst remembering the bravery of those who fought for our freedom.

The two-year project, led by Sally Crabtree (international poet), Pete White (Events Manager, Bodmin Airfield), the World War 1 Aviation Society in Essex and Dani May (Bridge Schools Trust Lead for English), also developed new and special links between schools in England and France, with a focus on literacy, creativity and heritage.

To mark the first phase of the project, some of those poems were flown back to Ors in France last summer by visiting pilots from Europe and taken to a commemorative service held in Ors; whilst Bridge Schools attended a celebratory event at Bodmin Airfield. Since then, Sally Crabtree continued to develop long-lasting links between the Cornish schools and schools in France, which are situated close to the Wilfred Owen Museum. The Wilfred Owen Society have taken a keen interest in the links and children's work has previously been projected onto the walls of the museum.

This summer, two unique events on both sides of the channel took the project to a new level: the first being a fluttering of the seeded poems from a vintage plane over The Somme this week and the second being a fluttering of the same poems over Bodmin Airfield later this month.

Following these special cross-channel events, Sally Crabtree will then continue to help the children of Bridge Schools to sustain the links between our partner schools in France and the Wilfred Owen Society. Another aspect of the project, moving forwards, has been helped by Anthea Hill (Head of Polperro School) who is also hosting English and French lessons via a digital platform with the partner school in Ors.

Chief Executive, Adrian Massey said; This has been an incredible event for our children. It has helped them both to remember the sacrifices of war but to understand the need; now more than ever, to celebrate the British Values of respect, tolerance and individual liberty following the tragedies of war. I am so grateful to everyone involved in providing this opportunity to connect with other children in France and for our children to remember the lives lost in such a dynamic way.  

 Democracy, Rule of Law, Respect and Tolerance, Individual Liberty

At the end of this academic year we will be saying our fond farewells to Mrs. Cooper as she retires following many years of outstanding service to the school. Mrs. Cooper has worked incredibly hard alongside the staff team to secure an excellent quality of education for our children at Brunel; we are very grateful for all her years of loyal service.

Bridge Schools are delighted to announce Mr. Darren Woolner has been appointed as the new headteacher and will take up the post in September. Mr. Woolner is an experienced leader who has worked at several schools in the Plymouth and Saltash area. His previous roles have allowed him to develop a comprehensive understanding of both the academic and pastoral needs of children and is committed to continuing the inclusive and supportive environment Brunel enjoys where every child is encouraged to achieve.

Mr. Woolner will be spending time at Brunel Academy over the coming weeks, which will give children, staff and parents an opportunity to meet with him before the end of the summer term. and give him a warm welcome.

Groups of children from across Bridge Schools have been trained to become young journalists. They have looked at news stories from across the trust to celebrate our shared values in each of our schools.

We are delighted to bring you Bridge Stories Issue 3 Keeping Active, Taking Action.

The journalism comes from the children themselves, publishing their ideas and views about the learning that goes on across the trust. 

Thank you for taking the time to read through their work.

To view issue 1, click here.  To view issue 2 click here.

A small group of pupils from Darite Primary Academy the Darite Virtual Pros had a wonderful time at the National Finals in Harrogate.

Darite were up against 73 other teams including private schools, secondary schools, grammar schools and computing clubs. Darite Virtual Pros were placed 22nd in this national event. 

 The whole team represented the school amazingly and were even nominated for an award from other teams for their attitude and kindness. Such a super achievement for this small, village school.

Well, done to all involved and thank you to everyone who sponsored the team making this adventure possible.

To read the full story and watch the day's events click here and scroll down to view Heads blog.

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