Bridestowe Primary A small school that’s proud of its community links with a great start to 2018….

At Bridestowe Primary School we are passionate about providing children with the very best education in a safe, happy and welcoming learning environment. Our aim is to develop confident learners with the skills required for secondary school success and the challenges life can bring. We currently have 87 children on roll, taught across three spacious classrooms. We have three teachers and seven support staff who work in collaboration with parents, carers and the wider community.

Bridestowe is one of six primary schools along with Okehampton College, to comprise the Dartmoor Federation, which is currently in the final stages of converting to the Multi Academy Trust status. By working together with the other schools in the Federation, the children at Bridestowe are able to enjoy being part of a small village school as well as having the benefits of being part of a larger organisation. British values and beliefs are embedded in our children’s learning and our ethos is built around people that are genuinely committed to these values and are lived out in the everyday life of our community. We endeavour to deliver these aims and values in all of our lessons, guiding our young children throughout their time with us in a distinct rural setting.

Although we are a small village primary school, we are fortunate to have fantastic grounds, which are continually being developed for the well-being of the pupils. The Friends of Bridestowe School (FoBS) – our parent run committee, are incredibly supportive and work closely with the school to help provide us with resources for exciting projects. Recently they have shown their commitment, dedication and perseverance by raising over £16,000 to replace the outdoor play equipment. We are delighted to say that the work on extending our playground has started and the children will be able to take full advantage of it this year.

We are incredibly proud of our parent and community partnerships created at Bridestowe Primary School and the commitment they share with us to ensure that the children have the best start in education. We have parents that volunteer to run lunch time and after school clubs, the Women’s Institute provide weekly reading sessions.  Parents also support with driving children to and from off-site venues for sporting events. This network of people enables us to provide a vast array of activities and opportunities for the children. For example, last year we were proud to be presented with the Silver Award for PE and School Sport from the School Games association. There are very strict criteria to meet in order to win this award and we were pleased to have the confirmation that we are providing excellent opportunities for the children’s physical development. As we have such high aspirations at this school, we are already working on how we can develop PE and school sports further and achieve a gold award this year!

This academic year has seen a growth in providing the children with a wider range of enrichment activities. We believe that this has truly inspired and fully engaged them in their learning, encouraging them to have higher expectations and aspirations for their future selves. Children learn most effectively through direct experience and we offer opportunities for children of all ages to enhance their skills by bringing the curriculum alive and making their learning more meaningful. We have many well-chosen trips, visitors and topic related days that support the curriculum being taught in school.

Children’s voices are also important to us at Bridestowe and there is a very active School Council. We consider it to be important that children begin to learn about democracy from this early age. Every year our council grows in strength, learning from its predecessors. This term alone the children have organised a ‘Dress as a Hero Day’, a ‘MacMillan Cancer afternoon’, ‘Children in Need Day’ and sold Remembrance merchandise to fundraise for the charities that they wanted to support. After a child-led meeting, they suggested that the school organised an art day. As a result, the teachers discussed how to go about this and the whole school went on a trip to RHS Rosemoor where the children created natural sculptures.

Amy Scrivenor

Headteacher

Bridestowe Primary School

We are looking forward to working even more collaboratively with other staff and children in the learning community as we convert into the Multi Academy Trust as this will help us to continue to provide a wide range of exciting opportunities for our pupils. Everyone involved in the school: pupils, parents, staff and wider community give so generously and this is the key to our success.

We are a friendly and fully inclusive school, so if you would like any further information or a tour, please contact Amy Lammas, Head of School on 01837 861361.