Next Practice in Resourcing Personalisation - The Bridge Academy

Looking to Learn - Creating an Account of Practice with The Bridge Academy

On 9 March 2007 a team from The Innovation Unit visited The Bridge Academy, one of its Next Practice field trial sites. The team spent the day enquiring into The Academy's practice as part of their ongoing investigation into innovative approaches to Resourcing Personalisation. This 'account of practice' gives a flavour of what they saw and heard and is a tribute to how successful The Bridge Academy is at maximising and aligning its resources (technological, organisational and interpersonal) to motivate learners "who have given up succeeding in mainstream".

The Bridge Academy is a pupil referral unit in Fulham, which caters for 175 boys and girls aged 11 to 16. Just under half the pupils are from ethnic minorities, predominately Black Caribbean and Black African. Twenty-six pupils have statements of special educational needs, and 80% are eligible for free school meals. The standard of teaching at The Academy has for a number of years been recognised as of high quality, and the number of pupils achieving GCSEs has increased.

This field trial has been running since Autumn 2006 the Academy are seeking to change the nature of the way its students participate in learning. They have set up The Bridge Academy Online, a virtual learning environment via which the school will set up a differentiated core offer to enable it to provide for students outside the confines of the school building and school day. This offer ranges from a 5 GCSE diet to a highly individualised offer which includes (accredited) work and tailored courses. In phase 1 of the project, the Academy is providing 16 Year 9 students with an ICT equipment package, online activities and support for students and their families. By changing the timetable so students work from home for a day a week, it allows time for students to undertake these activities, and for teachers to personalise their learning. The Bridge Academy Online was launched formally by the Headteacher Seamus Oates on 15 February 2007. The event was attended by a record number of parents and Clive Wilson of Queen's Park Rangers football club.

The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust is also involved in this trial.

Find out more by reading The Bridge Academy Account of Practice.

Read a profile of Andre Bailey, Assistant Head for e-learning here.

See a map showing the locations of all the Next Practice in Resourcing Personalisation field trial sites.

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