Bridge Learning Campus is a mixed gender

all-through school All-through schools educate young people throughout multiple stages of their education, generally throughout childhood and adolescence. Definition The term "all-through" can be legitimately applied to establishments in many different circumstan ...

located in the Whitchurch Park area of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England.

History

Its construction was completed in December 2008, opening to students the following January. It was officially opened by

The Princess Royal Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been sev ...

in October 2009. BLC, as an all through school, enjoys a rare identity as one of only a handful of schools in the UK where a child can begin and end their entire school career within the same establishment. There are many potential benefits to this approach, both operationally for the school and ultimately for the educational progress of the pupils. BLC has incorporated the secondary school formerly known as Hartcliffe Engineering Community College, and also the former Teyfant Community Primary School. BLC (or "The Bridge" as it has become known) has been constructed as part of the former Labour Government's

Building Schools for the Future Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was the name given to the British government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England in the 2000s. The programme was ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicia ...

programme (since scrapped). Additionally, New Fosseway Special School also re-located to the new site in 2009, joining the campus organisation. One of the key drivers for the establishment of BLC is the need to improve educational standards in the Hartcliffe area, particularly at secondary school levels. There is little doubt that standards have increased for the school, as GCSE results have risen year-on-year for Bridge Learning Campus Secondary since 2005. The staff within the new campus are determined to innovate. There is still a distinction between the primary and secondary areas of the campus, however due to an introduction of a phasing system, pupils are no longer educated based on their age. Rather, pupils in all phases will be in classes based on their ability. The adoption of this phasing system has been recognised by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

in their most recent inspection of the secondary phases as a positive development, and also during a visit by former Secretary of State

Ed Balls Edward Michael Balls (born 25 February 1967) is a British broadcaster, writer, economist, professor and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families from 2007 to 2010, and as Shadow Chancellor of the Exc ...

. The original Hartcliffe School was built in the late 1950s and was home to over 2200

students A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution. In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementary ...

on the site now occupied by BLC. The original school was built to serve new housing which replaced bomb damaged properties during the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

period and at the time it was one of the largest schools in the country. The original buildings have since been demolished as part of the rebuild.

Future

It was proposed to convert to an academy on 1 November 2012. This was pushed back to 1 December 2012, followed by 1 January 2013, then 1 February 2013, then again until 1 March 2013.

References

External links

Official Website
{{authority control Academies in Bristol Educational institutions established in 1958 Primary schools in Bristol Secondary schools in Bristol 1958 establishments in England