Trust school bridges the gap for Bristol students

Hartcliffe's new trust school has made an excellent start in changing the area's reputation with its first set of exam results.

Three years ago, the area had some of the worst GCSE results in the country with little more than one in 10 pupils at its comprehensive school gaining five or more good grades including English and maths.

Now the Bridge Learning Campus has seen that standard improve more than threefold, with a figure of 36 per cent, well above the target it was set.

The overall figure for students gaining five good passes at GCSE was a record 63 per cent.

Staff at the school, which moved into a £36-million building in January this year, say this is just the beginning.

Mark Davies, chief executive of the campus, said: "We're delighted. This is a good achievement, especially considering that we moved into the new building in the middle of the school year. This is a record result and speaks volumes for the work of students and staff."

The campus is one of the country's first all-through schools, providing education for people of all ages from three upwards. It includes nursery, primary, secondary, special, college and adult learning sections.

The Bridge is run by Trust in Learning, which includes representatives of the bristol.gov.uk" rel="nofollow" target=_blank>city council, City of Bristol College and the University of the West of England.

Mr Davies said: "The idea of bringing the schools together is part of the mission to transform education opportunities in this part of Hartcliffe. The results show the hard work everyone has put in and we are hoping to double the figures in the next few years.

"We want students to believe they can succeed, wherever they come from. This time last year the students didn't want to hang around and share their results but today they are celebrating with friends and it's great to see."

Next week, Trust in Learning will take charge of a second school, Monks Park in Horfield, which will become Orchard School Bristol. Monks Park, which was Bristol's worst performing school last year and was criticised by the watchdog Ofsted earlier this year, has also seen a remarkable turnaround in its results. Thirty-five per cent of its pupils gained five or more GCSE A*-Cs including maths and English, and 48 per cent at least five good passes.

Head teacher Dr Helen Holman said the success was due to hard work by students and staff.

"The children have done it," she said. "They really developed a belief in themselves. I am so proud that they have got this sense of success. These results are setting us on a course for the future in Orchard School. We are creating a new story for ourselves"

Another school that saw a spectacular rise in results was Ashton Park, where the A*-C figure including English and maths was up from 33 per cent last year to 43 and the overall figure rose from 57 to 68 per cent.

Head teacher Chris Gardner said: "These increases are the result of a huge amount of effort by students and staff. "

Brislington Enterprise College was also celebrating a big leap in results, a year after it moved into its £30m new buildings.

Its figure for A*-C passes was 12 percentage points up at 39 and its overall figures rose from 46 to 50.

St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School and Cotham School achieved record results and St Bede's Catholic College again scored highly, while the two new additions to the Bristol state school scene, Colston's Girls' School and Bristol Cathedral Choir School, saw benchmark figures of 85 and 78 respectively. The two academies sponsored by the Christian charity Oasis, Brightstowe in Shirehampton and Oasis Bristol in Hengrove, achieved improved results on their predecessor schools.

Bristol's independent schools were again celebrating extremely high results. Many students achieved straight A* and As.

● For further coverage of individual achievements, don't miss the Evening Post's 16-page GCSE results supplement on Wednesday, September 2.