CEO Blog – Nearly there….

Happy Friday!

We’re nearly at the end of the first half term, and into a well deserved break for all our children, young people and staff teams.

I am sure it’s been just as rewarding a half term, as it has been tiring, but sometimes you just need a rest!

Looking around our MAT social media this week has shown that no matter how close we get to the end of term, New Bridge just doesn’t slow down.

I have been amazed at the photographs from Samuel Laycock’s trips to the Children’s Adventure Farm Trust. What a great experience for those year 7’s to help them settle into life at a new school.

Well done and thank you to all the staff involved.

Not only are you focused on creating some incredible memories for the children, you are constantly sharing those experiences with the families, who clearly love to see what’s going on. This is an ‘added extra’ that we offer at New Bridge, and many schools or MATS simply wouldn’t make it a priority.

I know, by looking at our MAT social media interactions, as I have done this week, that our families appreciate the efforts you go to.

For Samuel Laycock alone, the last 28 days saw a reach of 3.2k, with an engagement of 1.1k.

I’m reliably informed that the reach is the number of people who see the content and the engagement is the number of interactions the content receives from users.

I have to add that this data came before the CAFT trips, so I look forward to seeing how this has grown in a month’s time!

Samuel Laycock have a great social media presence, but they are not alone in our MAT. Hawthorns Twitter accounts provide superb daily updates to parents and families, whilst Hollinwood’s blog is always packed full of detail and photographic updates.

New Bridge School, New Bridge Horizons and Spring Brook Lower post regularly too, which is something their parents and families love.

In fact, every single school or setting shares updates regularly, in one way or another, and it helps build our connection with parents, families and stakeholders, as well as allowing us to stay in touch with one another throughout very busy terms.

It’s clearly more than ‘just for show’.

It demonstrates our commitment to sharing what goes on in school and on site, and we should be shouting it from the rooftops because it’s all great to see.

Of course, it has to be managed safely and securely, as with anything in the online world, but we have systems in place to ensure we use social media sensibly and effectively.

As ever, your feedback on what we can do better is always welcome.

I think that this is just another example of how New Bridge embraces the digital age to enchance our offer, which is something we did this week with a virtual DforE tour, showcasing our destinations based approaches. This was cooridnated by Richard Bright, and the feedback has been brilliant.