‘Bridge’ Support Centres

Murray Park School is a highly inclusive school.  We go to great lengths to ensure every child can and does succeed in education. As part of our provision we have developed The Bridge, a specialised support centre for pupils with additional needs or those at risk of exclusion, the pupils who access the provision can be taught the full curriculum in smaller groups.

The aim of the support centre is to reintegrate pupils back into mainstream education – they will leave armed with strategies to help them deal with their areas of difficulties. Courses are available for pupils to access, these can include anger management, resilience, confidence building, behaviour and self-esteem.

We support pupils who access our support centres, promoting a learning environment that supports high expectations, and delivering bespoke provision to meet the needs of individuals.

The pupils attending the ‘Bridge’ do so with a personalised package in place which supports their individual needs, some pupils attend for a short period of time and are then reintegrated back in to their mainstream lessons. They may receive all of their lessons in the ‘Bridge’ where the teachers from mainstream deliver the lessons within the provision, or they go back into the main school setting with additional support.

As part of our support centres we also develop, organise and deliver small group and intervention packages, this can include sporting activities, trips or visits and opportunities to work within the school or community. We have our fantastic school community garden which has helped pupils engage positively in outdoor learning, and has given them opportunities to work with the local community.

We also introduce our pupils to the world of work and the different and exciting opportunities that are available to them, we do this by linking lessons to the workplace and giving pupils the opportunity to learn from employers about professions and the skills that are valued in society. Students take part in visiting places of work and have access to an enhanced careers programme in order to develop the skills needed when considering their next stage of life after Murray Park.

The intentions of our support centres are as follows:

The Bridge is the support centre within Murray Park school, we work with our pupils, providing reintegration support and a tailored education experience, which will build the bridge back into mainstream education.

Many of our pupils start with us having become disengaged from learning and often not seeing the value of education; they often have gaps in their knowledge and understanding because they have experienced disruption to their schooling.  Pupils have tailored, personalised packages to meet their individual needs, which we hope will also capture their interests and prepare them for the next stage of their educational journey.

The vast majority of our pupils have a range of different needs, a priority is to support them  to manage these areas and develop skills to stabilise and regulate their emotions.  Interventions are designed to improve not only our pupils’ ability to learn but to develop their social/emotional resilience so that they are better equipped to return to mainstream education, the curriculum gives priority to meeting learners’ current and future needs and promotes spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

The curriculum is broad and balanced, inspirational and well-considered, recognising the complex social and emotional needs of our pupils. We believe that all pupils have the right to learn, despite any barriers to learning they may have or had in the past. Very often pupils have low self-esteem. The curriculum enables pupils to overcome barriers, re-engage in learning and develop skills required to successfully reintegrated into the mainstream setting. We offer additional care and support needed around each young person to enable them to thrive. The curriculum supports pupils in gaining cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills to progress back into mainstream school or support their chosen pathway at post 16.

Our curriculum will enable pupils to develop concentration, perseverance, respect, co-operation, and imagination. The curriculum will provide our pupils with a range of experiences, building cultural capital; inspiring and enabling them to begin to understand the importance of learning and to begin learning again enabling them to make a lasting and positive contribution to future societies.