Dear Parents and Carers,

As we approach the final few days of the Summer Term, I would like to extend my thanks for your continued support throughout the year.  Whether its helping your children to be prepared for school, ensuring they attend regularly, or supporting our many school activities, your efforts are appreciated. It all helps our schools to run smoothly.

Celebrating Success: Ofsted Inspections

It has been another full academic year. We are thrilled to report, six of our schools received positive Ofsted inspections, including a monitoring visit at Harrowbarrow, which joined the Trust last September. The following schools retained their GOOD ratings:

• Lanlivery
• Looe
• Darite
• Polperro
• Copper Valley Infant and Nursery
• We are especially proud of Polruan moving to a secure GOOD in January.

We have a dedicated staff team who have worked hard over the year to give your children the best opportunities they can. We also regularly receive positive comments regarding the conduct of the children during school visits a true credit to you as parents and carers and a positive reflection on Bridge Schools.

Pupil Progress and Assessments

This years formal assessments - EYFS, Year 1 Phonics Check, Year 2, Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check, and Year 6 SATs - indicate that children across the Trust are making expected progress. We can always improve but overall, we are pleased. We remain committed to helping every child to improve their performance.

Parent Survey

Thank you to everyone who completed the summer parent questionnaire. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us identify areas for further improvement.  Results have been shared with all school heads and if you have requested a follow-up response, heads are working through these with the aim to complete by the end of next week.

Investment in IT

Over the past year, we have significantly upgraded our IT infrastructure and hardware, particularly iPad provision. Small schools now benefit from 1:1 iPad devices, and larger schools from 1:2, which helps the children with their learning opportunities.

On Friday 6th June, our Trust-wide INSET day focused on digital learning practices. Staff were introduced to Showbie, a powerful platform designed to streamline learning, feedback, and collaboration. This enables children to record videos of their understanding and to replay feedback from staff to help them to iron out any misunderstanding in learning new concepts. Training will continue next term to deepen their understanding to enhance engagement and to further improve outcomes. 

This initiative marks an exciting step forward in our ongoing commitment to harnessing technology to support high-quality teaching and learning across the Trust.

SEN

You will have seen in the media the escalating financial issues around supporting children with SEN (Special Educational Needs). The government has inherited a broken system for which they are considering some more radical solutions such as removing EHCPs (Educational Health Care Plans). Whatever the outcome of the review, we will continue to support all children within the resources we have available. Many children have individual need but dont have an EHCP, we still help them with their achievement. Please try not to become anxious about change, we will find a way to make the system work.

Collaborations

The children were able to enjoy several events over the year, meeting other children from within the Trust, where our schools came together to compete in a variety of sporting activities. A Trust Football Festival in the autumn term, followed by a Dodgeball Shoot Out in February, and Alternative Sports Day in April and most recently all the children enjoyed their Wimbledon themed Bridge Schools Games. Staff go above and beyond to make these events happen and give your children additional opportunities, we are grateful to everyone involved. Again, the children modelled excellent behaviour.

This summer Polperro Primary received exciting news that they had been named one of just two recipients of the prestigious Orwell Society School Award for 2024 - 2025. This exceptional recognition celebrates a creative and thoughtful educational project inspired by George Orwells deep love of nature - an interest that took root during his childhood holidays in Polperro.

Led by Headteacher Anthea Hillman, and a wonderfully dedicated team, the school launched a nature-focused initiative that brought Orwells passion for the natural world to life in extraordinary ways for the children.Click here to read more about this exciting project. We are incredibly proud of Polperro Primarys achievement.  Congratulations to everyone involved.

Farewells and Best Wishes

Year 6 Class of 25

To our Year 6 pupils, we really hope your final year in primary school has been memorable and enriching. We hope you have learned all you need; we wish you all the very best as you move on to secondary school.  Keep striving and remember your time with us fondly.

We also say goodbye to staff members leaving at the end of this term and wish them every success in their future endeavours.

Team

We are incredibly fortunate to have such a dedicated team of staff across Bridge Schools. Their commitment to provide the very best opportunities for your children is extraordinary. I would like to thank them for their dedication and enthusiasm to achieve great things for all the children in our schools. Governors, trustees and members have also given a great deal of time voluntarily again this year, providing challenge and support. My thanks also go to them. And finally, my greatest accolades as ever go to the children. They have navigated their way through another academic year, with resilience and energy, showing their creativity in their ability to succeed. 

Term Dates

Please note: 

• The summer term ends on Tuesday 22nd July (INSET Day: Wednesday 23rd July)
• Whole Trust INSET Day: Wednesday 3rd September (Autumn term begins: Thursday 4th September)

In the meantime, I hope that you have enjoyed the school summer events over the last few weeks and thank you for your continued support. Wishing you all a relaxing and enjoyable summer break. We look forward to welcoming the children back to school on Thursday 4th September.

With all good wishes,

Adrian Massey and everyone at Bridge Schools.

Please some resources within this link that may be useful to you over the summer break