You can find answers to frequently asked questions about the proposal to build a new school on the site of Lewisham Bridge Primary School on this page.
Who will be able to attend the proposed new school?
The proposed school will be fully inclusive and will be at the heart of the community. Places will be allocated to reflect the needs of Lewisham children, young people and their families, as well as the wider community. The school will cater for all ability ranges.
It is proposed that the new school federates with Prendergast School, under the executive leadership of the Headteacher of Prendergast School and in a ‘hard federation’ arrangement.
This federation means that the new school and Prendergast School would report to a single governing body. It is proposed that Crofton school would also be part of the federation, reporting to the same single governing body as the new school and Prendergast School.
What would be the advantages of an all-through 3-16 school?
An all-through school brings a number of potential benefits, particularly for a borough like Lewisham where transition between our primary and secondary schools remains a key challenge:
- avoidance of the ‘dip’ in achievement in Year 7 and a greater understanding by secondary staff of how to build on the children’s work from the primary phase
- a strong community, citizenship and family ethos where older children understand their responsibilities as role models for the younger pupils
- the ability to introduce more specialist teaching into the primary phase particularly in areas such as languages, music and science
- the ability for good primary practice to be incorporated higher up the school where appropriate and for those children who need extra support
- stronger professional development opportunities for staff
- operational efficiencies and benefits through integration
- opportunities to design a purpose built all-through school building providing identified bases for different age groups and security for younger children.
What would be the advantages of a hard federation with Prendergast School?
A hard federation between Prendergast, the new school and Crofton would build and secure the confidence of parents and residents around the new school, and drive the success of all three schools.
The staff across the federation would benefit from the development opportunities given by the federation and pupils would have access to opportunities to learn in broader settings.
Pupils would have access to the enlarged mixed sixth form being developed at Prendergast through BSF.
Our intention is for the new school to be a science specialist school which would complement the Modern Foreign Languages and Music specialisms at Prendergast School and the Visual Arts specialism in Crofton.
It is proposed that pupils from this federation have priority admission to both Crossways Academy and Prendergast Sixth Form.