A warm welcome to all is offered from the staff at New Bridge School and Learning Centre. We are privileged and honoured to be Heads of Site at our two centres and we would like to take this opportunity to formally acknowledge and embrace our new pupils and students, their carers and parents and welcome them into our school community. New Bridge is a school where themes of respect, tolerance, fair play, good manners and hard work can be seen in action every single day. At New Bridge our goal is to help our young people develop the skills, knowledge, qualifications, character and ambition to become great young people, able to access all the opportunities and life chances that are on offer. We want them to become adults of whom you are proud, individuals who make a positive impact on the world in which they live.

It has been wonderful to see the children rush through the doors as the new school year begins. Thank you, as ever, for your efforts in ensuring that they are smart and in full school or Pathway uniform and black shoes. Could you please make sure that the children’s jumpers and cardigans, trousers and skirts have been labelled (an indelible marker with their initials on the label is enough). At the Learning Centre our Year 12s are settling in really well!
It has been a really positive start from all and we would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding as we have sorted out the last minute glitches on the timetable.

The school has once again achieved excellent academic results at both GCSE and Entry Level, this has included results which have amazed us all. As a staff group we are committed to ensuring that every young person can achieve their very best in all areas of the curriculum and we are very proud of what our young people have achieved..

As you might know, we have also welcomed new teachers this year – Mr Flanagan, Miss Orgacki, Miss Bickerstaff and Mrs Holland. We are delighted that we have excellent teachers and we know that the children will continue to make great progress. Our admin team has also welcomed new members; Natalie has joined Natalie at the school site and Lucy has moved to the Learning Centre to work with Faith.

You can, of course, access our website www.newbridgeschool.net where you can find information about the curriculum, holiday patterns, uniform etc. We also have a New Bridge Group Facebook page and Twitter feed where images and posts can keep you all up to date. Our curriculum blogs will begin again next week and we would love you to support your child with any comments which acknowledge their efforts both in and out of the classroom.

During these first days, school can be very different for our new pupils – if you have any worries or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s head of year or pastoral manager. They are:

Year 7 – Mr Thompson, Head of Year and Mr O’Neill, Pastoral Manager
Year 8 – Mr Neagle, Head of Year and Mr Garside, Pastoral Manager
Year 9 – Mr Neagle, Head of Year and Mrs Soltyk, Pastoral Manager
Year 10 – Mr Southerington, Head of Year and Mrs Needham, Pastoral Manager
Year 11 – Mr Southerington, Head of Year and Mrs Meadows, Pastoral Manager
Year 12 – Mr Barker, Head of Year and Mr Hagan, Pastoral Manager
Year 13 – Miss Morris, Head of Year and Miss Wright, Pastoral Manager
Year 14 – Miss Morris, Head of Year and Mrs Lane, Pastoral Manager
If your child is on one of our Key Stage 5 Pathways based at Medtia Square, Mrs Nelson is the Pastoral Manager based on site to support them and Mr Monaghan is their Pastoral Lead.

Miss Allison has been very lucky this Summer to get a few weeks away to recharge the old batteries. It also provided a unique time to reflect. She was sharing some of what we do here within the New Bridge Group with a lady who works within a special school in Australia and it made her realise just how far we have come as an organisation and how our young people are at the very heart of every decision, development and direction. The Australian teacher was in awe of the emphasis on destinations for all our young people and the success of our employment based routes. It may have been the sunshine, glistening sea, or the fact that we were also watching a pod of dolphins but Miss Allison felt quite emotional and proud!

During this week’s Learning Centre Assembly we focused on ‘Starting a new chapter’. Miss Allison shared a story about two magical wildlife experiences she had this summer, firstly with a kangaroo!

..and secondly with a wild dolphin which was only possible because she stepped out into the water to join it! Although many of our Year 12s feel nervous and perhaps a little afraid, we encouraged them to take those initial steps, be brave and believe in themselves. If this week is anything to go, by all our students are going to fly and achieve whatever they put their minds to!

We also shared a short poem, Rise above the Crowd:

The world is full of people,
Content to be what they are
Who never know the joy of success;
They lack the will to go that far.

Yet in this world there is a need,
For some to lead the rest
To rise above the average life,
By giving of their best.

Are you the one who dares,
To try when challenged by the task
To rise to the heights you’ve never dreamed,
Or is that too much to ask?

This can be your year,
Fore great purpose to achieve
If you accept the challenge,
And in yourself believe.

By the way, Hortus & Mrs Gillett, it hasn’t gone unnoticed that on Thursday a crumble was cooked and consumed without being shared!! Miss Allison is definitely going to re-introduce the ‘Cooking with Hortus’ feature to ensure this doesn’t happen again – she will remember!

As you may already be aware, we write this weekly blog with news of what has been happening at New Bridge and updates on any forthcoming events. The first date for your diary is Friday 29th September when we are holding a coffee morning from 10.00am until 11.30am where you will have the opportunity to meet your child’s class teacher and teaching assistant.  Please keep checking your child’s bag for any correspondence that is sent home, or your inbox if you have asked to receive letters by email. If you have not yet given us your email address but would like to receive letters that way, please send it in. Our new ‘E Parent’ facility will be up and running soon and you will be able to log into your account, send messages to your child’s class teacher, view letters sent home, details of events in school and your child’s timetable. We will send your log in details home as soon as ‘E Parent’ is operational.

Thank you all in anticipation of your support for the forthcoming year.

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

Judith and Dawn

You can find our full blog here

Click here to read this week’s news from Graham