Books, books and more books!

Gareth Jackson - Local Author Workshops

This week we were delighted to be able to welcome Gareth Jackson, a local author, to the academy to work with pupils. Gareth writes children's fiction books across a number of series, and has also written two teen fiction novels, the second is his most recent book. As well as working with pupils in class, he started the week with an assembly in which the pupils were amazed to find out that Gareth is dyslexic and couldn't read or write very well until he was older than our pupils. They found it fascinating to learn that he also self-publishes his books and has learnt to do this since becoming a writer. The thing that amazed them the most, though, was that his latest book, Lemoriah's Legend, contains 95,000 words and took two years to write!

During the workshops, pupils worked through character design, storyboarding and then in the afternoon, wrote their very own book. I hope Amazon have got plenty of ink, because I know there will be several more self-published authors on their way from Horbury Bridge Academy in years to come!

Gareth can be found on Twitter @GarethLJackson1 on his website here and by searching Amazon for his books!

Enhance Academy Trust

Earlier this year I wrote to you to inform you that, from September 2022, we were joining Enhance Academy Trust as an associate member. The Governors are now considering a decision to join as a full member.

Since joining the Trust, we have been able to access a wide range of support and development opportunities that have had a positive impact on our academy, particularly around our curriculum development, which hopefully you will have seen first hand. Working in partnership with other schools has meant that we have been able to build on the existing strengths of Horbury Bridge Academy as well as incorporating good practice seen in other settings. By becoming a full member, we will be able to continue this work as well as drawing on support for other areas of the academy, for example access to best value resourcing using the buying power of a Trust.

Having joined a number of Trusts before in my previous roles, the questions I got asked most were around 'what will change?' Please be assured that the times of the school day, the uniform and the name of the school will not change. Enhance Academy Trust are also committed to ensuring our academy remains unique in the way it provides education for the needs of our community, based on our strong Christian ethos:

Living by Our Christian Values: Together in Faith, Hope and Love

If you have any questions about joining Enhance as a full member, please contact the academy or speak to me before or after school.

Mr Tuddenham

Head Teacher