Dear families,

We hope you are all enjoying the events and milestones that the end of term brings.  To those of you whose children are reaching significant moments in their educational journey, we hope you find opportunities to celebrate their achievements.

We wanted to take this opportunity to write to you to share updated information regarding our move to our main school site in September.  While we await an update from the Department for Education (DfE) regarding outstanding checks and works on our main building, we are pleased that our Trust teams have been working closely with the DfE and contractors to confirm details about our temporary accommodation.

Initially, we will be in a ‘village’ of temporary classrooms to the left of the main school building (as seen from the road). Our setup will include:

• 8 classrooms (2 for Primary and 6 for Secondary)
• A SEND/library space
• Administration space
• A meeting room
• Toilet facilities for each age phase

We anticipate being able to update on plans for catering arrangements by the end of term and are increasingly confident that a workable solution for daily hot school meals will be available.  We extend our gratitude to Educatering for their tireless efforts in supporting this.

We are also exploring ways of developing a range of trips and visits during the first half term to enhance our curriculum offer.

We believe it is likely we will require temporary accommodation following the first half term.  We are pleased to share floor plans for the temporary, two-storey school building, which will be constructed to the right of the permanent building. This new building will feature specialist teaching and learning facilities, including:

• Multiple classrooms
• A sports hall
• Science labs
• Food technology / Nutrition space
• A music and drama studio
• A school hall
• A kitchen to produce our own school meals in collaboration with Educatering

We are excited that this building will enable us to offer the family and community engagement opportunities which are so important to us as we write our stories together.

As we move to our new site and hold our transition events, we are excited to meet our new pupils and families.  A school is more than just its buildings. We are confident that our pupils will have a warm and happy start to their educational journey with us on our main site.

As the build is in the hands of the DfE and their contractors, if you have any queries about the build, the DfE have indicated you should contact them using the form linked here.

For other school-related inquiries, please don’t hesitate to reach out via email ([email protected]) or telephone (01392 717140).

We look forward to seeing you soon as we continue to write our story together.

With warm wishes,

Tim and Hannah

Deputy CEO, Ted Wragg Trust, and Acting Headteacher, Matford Brook Academy

Dear Families,

We hope you all had a lovely half term.

Further to our letter shortly before the break, we have now received a further update from the Department for Education (DfE) relating to the progress of our school build which we wanted to share with you.

The DfE has confirmed the school building will not be ready to occupy in September as hoped and planned. There are still some outstanding checks and works to complete on areas of the building. Part of this involves their technical advisers overseeing the checks and works to ensure we have a quality building. I know you will be disappointed and frustrated with this news, we are too. Please know we are working hard to ensure that the DfE do all they can to rectify the situation with their contactors as soon as possible. We will continue to push the DfE for updates and we will share these with you as soon as we receive them.

Our main focus now turns to ensuring that we have a great temporary solution on site as soon as possible. The good news is the DfE are working to deliver an onsite offer at MBA ready for September.  This will allow us to open all classes as planned and provide an education to all children with offers of places. The plans are being developed at pace by the DfE and their contractor, and we will update you with more detail on the arrangements for September as soon as we can, and by the end of the month at the latest. 

Should a temporary solution be required beyond the first half term, the DfE have confirmed the temporary school will include a wide range of specialist facilities for example science labs, food tech rooms and a sports hall so we will be able to deliver the full curriculum for both primary and secondary pupils.  We have uploaded the proposed designs and similar projects from elsewhere in the country on our school website so you’re able to get a sense of how this will look.  I hope you find this reassuring and please do get in touch if you have any questions about how this will work.

We are so sorry that this has not been as smooth as it should have been. All the staff team at Matford Brook Academy and colleagues from across our Trust are committed to ensuring your children are supported through this transition and have a positive start to writing their stories on site.

We are all so excited to welcome our new families to Matford Brook Academy. Each phase will have their own transition arrangements adapted in light of these updated circumstances and the MBA team will be in touch shortly with revised locations for transition events. We are currently finalising plans for these with alternative host venues. If your child has an EHCP in place, our SENDCo Theo will be reaching out to you shortly to talk through your enhanced transition arrangements.

Thank you for your continued support and patience. Your kindness has been hugely appreciated.

As the build is in the hands of the DfE and their contractors, if you have any queries about the build, the DfE have indicated you should contact them using this form here. If you have any other enquiries for school, please do not hesitate to reach out in the usual ways [email protected] or telephone 01392 717140.

We are committed to making sure children have a wonderful start in September.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

With best wishes,

Tim and Hannah

Dear families,

We have been so excited with the progress at the MBA site and want to thank you again for your continued support during this process.

The DfE have told us that, ‘following a routine inspection of the site this month, they are required to carry out some further works at the school and additional compliance checks. This is standard at this stage.’ The DfE and their appointed contractors and wider team have been working hard. They do not know what, if any, impact this will have on the planned July hand over. They wanted to reassure us that they are taking precautionary planning measures including looking at the feasibility of temporary accommodation on the site itself. They have said this is not due to them thinking it is not going to be ready but simply a process of ‘early notification’ and ‘precautionary planning’. We have asked for further information which we will share as we receive it.

We do not want to cause any undue worry; however, as we know many members of the local community have been involved in the building work and furnishing for our new home, we thought it best to tell everyone so that there are no unhelpful rumours or unnecessary worries.

We are so excited to be on site at MBA soon and still hoping this will be July for staff and September for pupils. We are grateful for your continued support.

As the build is in the hands of the DfE and their contractors, if you have any queries about the build, the DfE have indicated you should contact them using this form here. If you have any other enquiries for school just get in touch in the usual ways [email protected] or telephone 01392 717140.

We will update you as we receive information but hope to be able to offer more reassurance by Monday 13th June at the latest.

With best wishes,
Tim and Hannah