Teacher of Science

In 2012 the Bridgwater College Trust was formed by Bridgwater College, as the sponsor, to oversee and support the new Bridgwater College Academy, which was formed by the amalgamation of three predecessor schools - East Bridgwater Community School, Sedgemoor Manor Junior School and Sedgemoor Manor Infant and Nursery School. A year later Brymore School, a state boarding and day school for boys, and the Hamp Junior School converted to academy status and joined the Trust. In February 2016, West Somerset College, which was already an academy for 13-18 year olds, also joined the Trust, after receiving some interim leadership support from the Trust.

The Trust, therefore now includes a wide range of learners aged 2-18, and benefits from the support of a strong and very successful sponsor. In a relatively short period the academies within the Trust have made significant improvements:

• Bridgwater College Academy out-performed FFT expectations by a greater margin than any other secondary provider in Somerset in 2015. Results on the 5+ A*-C measure including English/Maths have risen from 24% before joining the Trust to 61% in 2015. This is forecast to improve further in 2016. At primary level across Key Stages 1 and 2 as well as Early Years, similar improvements in outcomes for young people have been seen in both standards and rates of progress. Last inspected in 2014 by Ofsted as ‘requires improvement’, effective self-evaluation and external validation now grade the school as ‘good’, with outstanding outcomes in the secondary phase in English and Maths.
  
• At Brymore Academy a similar picture of strong school improvement has been witnessed with very high rates of learners making expected progress in English and Maths. In 2015 Brymore was graded as a ‘good’ school by Ofsted.
  
• Prior to conversion, outcomes for students at Hamp Junior School had been inadequate. In 2015, as a result of consistent and exceptionally strong performance the Hamp Academy was graded at ’good’ by Ofsted. Outcomes from 2015 are outstanding with 83% achieving L4+ in Reading, Writing and Maths, which is above the local authority and national averages, and value added scores of 100.8 combined (21st percentile), Mathematics 101.5 (12th percentile), Reading 99.9 and Writing 100.3 (37th percentile). This improvement is sustained and now fully embedded. Self-evaluation and external verification show that Hamp Academy provides an outstanding education for some of the most socially disadvantaged learners in Somerset.
  
• Results for West Somerset College in 2014 were very poor and placed the Academy in ‘special measures’. With saturated intervention and support from Bridgwater College Trust staff before the College joined the Trust, results improved by 10% last year and 2016 outcomes are set to exceed this measure again. In November 2015 Ofsted recognised that the strong influence of the Trust meant that the school was now taking highly effective action to remove itself from ‘special measures’ and was making effective progress. At its recent visit in May 2016 Ofsted removed the school from ‘special measures’.
  

The aim of the Bridgwater College Trust is to provide an excellent, high quality education for all pupils. Our significant progress can be attributed to our exacting standards and high expectations for all pupils, regardless of background, which is achieved as a result of consistently high standards of teaching at all times and for all groups. Our highly individualised approach to education, provision and responsive intervention ensures that all learners make at least very good progress academically and socially.

The Bridgwater College Trust is sponsored by Bridgwater College which has been an Ofsted ‘outstanding’ provider of education for more than 14 years. The College is a lead player in the tertiary sector, and this year was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Award for Higher and Further Education and was named as the FE College of the Year in the 2016 TES Further Education Awards. The College has also won 14 Association of Colleges National Beacon Awards, more than any other college in the country.

The three Bridgwater based academies have already experienced significant growth in student numbers in recent years and are now oversubscribed. The popularity of the academies within the group is as a result of the very rapid improvements made in outcomes for students along with recognition of the schools’ broad and balanced curricula, desirable learning environments, highly trained and skilled staff, and individualised approaches to student learning.

Until now, the Trust has operated with a very limited central resource, in the form of a part-time Business and Finance Director and a part-time Clerk to the Trust, with the chair of the trust (the Principal of Bridgwater College), in effect, also acting as the Chief Executive. The contribution from academy budgets towards central costs has therefore been very low at less than 1%.

The Trust Board, in a recent review of its strategy going forwards has decided that in order to optimise the benefits for academies in being part of our Trust, future growth in the number of academies in the Trust will be important. This would enhance the ability of academies to share good practice and learn from a wider range of schools, and also provide the Trust with a greater resource centrally to provide a range of high quality shared services, thus supporting academies to become more effective and efficient. To drive this growth, establish further improvements in performance and enable the Trust to achieve its vision, mission and strategic aims (below), it has decided that the time is now right to appoint its first dedicated Chief Executive Officer.

Vision

To create and develop a group of outstanding, thriving and diverse academies which raise the aspirations, potential and achievement of young people in our community by working in partnership to provide the highest standards of education.

Mission

To inspire the young people of our community to achieve success and the best possible outcomes by providing education based on outstanding teaching and learning, high quality support and excellent learning environments.

Strategic Aims:

1. To ensure the governance of the Trust provides the support and challenge that enables our diverse range of academies to operate with a high degree of autonomy and be highly successful

2. To ensure continuous school improvement is achieved through partnership and collaboration across academies at all levels and through sharing of good practice and services

3. To promote and develop within our academies a culture of innovation, creativity and passion for student achievement and progression

4. To ensure the long-term financial health of our academies, which enables them to invest in, and support the development of staff, facilities and resources for the benefit of their students