Regular updates and news can be found here! Also check out our "gallery" page.

• Stars in our school!

  Fri 24 Nov 2017 Mrs Cox-Wall

  Today is a celebration of our support staff and the vital role they play in supporting our learners in all aspects of their lives. We have range of support staff in The Bridge and every one of them makes a valued contribution to every child that comes here. We have staff who lead and deliver:  1:1 Learning Support, Family Engagement, Therapeutic work, many interventions and an amazing administrative team.

  Unison the public services union has created this celebration day "Stars in our schools"  to help schools show their appreciation of their support staff. We held a special briefing this morning where each member of staff had a goodie bag and our sincere thanks for all their efforts. For our part time staff, we have their goodie bags safely in the office!

  From left to right: Carol, Anne, Andrew (supply staff), Maggie(supply staff), Charlotte, Tammy, Linda M, Amanda, Ami, Lynda A, Amy and Helen. Louise, Vickie, Emily, Charlotte and Rhieannon escaped the photo!

  

• Therapy Dogs

  Mon 13 Nov 2017 Charlotte Lewis-Williams
  On Friday we welcomed Bailey the Cocker Spaniel to the Bridge, into our Mental and Physical Health Recovery provision. She is training to be a Therapy Dog, what does that mean?

  "Pet therapy is defined as a guided interaction between a specially trained animal and an individual or group, guided by the animal’s handler. Pet therapy interactions are used to help improve people’s mental, social, emotional and physical functions. Animals accept us as we are – they don’t judge and they don’t threaten – so people can wholeheartedly interact with them safe in the knowledge that there is no hidden agenda. People with emotionally based disorders may find it difficult to open up and trust another human being, but discover this process is much easier with a therapy animal. Benefits from pet therapy programs include a reduction in stress, a boost in self-esteem, improved mood, and better communication skills.

   

  Stroking, sitting next to or playing with an animal is believed to cause the release of endorphins (feel-good neurotransmitters) which has an extremely positive impact with our mental health due to its calming effect. Focussing on an animal and its needs draws our attention away from our own problems. We develop nurturing skills and develop a sense of empathy with an animal. Pets are a motivator for people; dogs especially are great at encouraging owners to get exercise beneficial for our mental health".

  Bailey will visit us again soon!

   

• Listening to Learners

  Fri 10 Nov 2017 Mrs Cox-Wall

  We take care to listen to pupil feedback in lots of ways here in The Bridge.

  This week, each pupil had the opportunity to complete a survey, there were different ones for Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 and 4.

  The results were great - all KS2 pupils felt very positive about school, felt safe and happy and that they were making progress. The play and sports equipment issue was mentioned and we are hoping to have our new playground installed in the next few weeks!

  KS3 and 4 pupils were also very positive:

  94% of pupils feel safe here,

  80% of pupils agreeing pupils behave well here,

  90% of pupils agreeing that if bullying or harrassment occurs staff deal with it,

  81% of pupils feeling they are making good progress,

  Over 85% of pupils feeling they knew about their progress.

  An area to address was healthy eating and having more information about it. School Council are keen to run a healthy tuck shop at break times, so hopefully we can link the two and help raise pupil perception on that one!

  We always welcome feedback, each pupil was given a parental questionnaire to take home last week but we haven't had many returned. Please go to our "parents" section and complete one and post or email it back to school at :

  Admin.BridgeAlternativeProvision@Bridgend.gov.uk

  Thankyou.