Category Archives: Learning, Skills, and Young People

Building Bristol – our vision for growing construction skills and employment

Councillor Asher Craig and Tom Renhard, smile in a group of Building Bristol employees.
Today’s blog is from Councillors Asher Craig, Deputy Mayor with responsibility for Children’s Services, Education and Equalities and Tom Renhard, Cabinet Member for Housing Delivery and Homes – seen on the far left and centre of the picture

Bristol’s construction industry is booming, cranes are on the horizon. We are responding to the growing needs of our city, enabling new developments, offering much needed accommodation, health facilities, hospitality sites, education facilities, and workspaces. Our planning department reviews and approves over 100 major applications a year.

Without a doubt, we need the homes, schools, hotels, entertainment, and health facilities. But it is not just the finished product that matters. What our city also needs is skills development, training, and employment opportunities and we recognise that local developments and their associated construction projects can offer these opportunities. That is why we are now requiring that all major planning applications include an Employment and Skills Plan (ESP) for the construction phase and, where appropriate, the end use phase. While this might seem like an unnecessary extra step, there is huge value in these requirements. And contractors and developers are not on their own to meet the obligations. We have launched Building Bristol, a support service for the industry to guide developers and contractors every step of the way, helping put together and evaluate the ESPs.

Why the change, some might ask. We recognise that there are many opportunities presented by construction developments in our city during the build and the end user phase. These opportunities can greatly improve local employment, training and skills offers and, therefore, it is important that all of those involved in shaping our city play their part in maximising such employment opportunities for local people. Through Building Bristol, we can also connect applicants and developers with a wide range of services to help meet the agreed targets. All this means that there are huge benefits for our city’s workforce.

A Building Bristol employee smiles with a window behind him. His hat has the Building Bristol logo.

And vitally, we want to make sure the changed requirements are of benefit to the construction trade too. We have recently appointed John Boughton, Regional Managing Director for Wales and the South West of Bouygues UK, as the Chair of Building Bristol Board. John’s expertise, as the lead of the board’s key partners which include business, education, training, employment support, voluntary sector, trade unions and construction support, will help us make sure that we are further helping the construction industry.

So what does it mean in practice? Our Building Bristol Coordinator is on hand to support contractors, developers and end employers with developing their Employment and Skills Plans and delivering their agreed targets. By working with all major developments, there are also opportunities for shared events and campaigns to boost local recruitment.

In our city, construction is a career choice for plenty of young people already. We run our own On Site construction apprenticeship scheme which supports innovative apprenticeship and work-based learning programmes. We are proud to say over the last 25 years the programme has been running, it has delivered 2,500 apprenticeships. In Bristol, there is also our new £9 million state-of-the-art City of Bristol College Advanced Construction Skills Centre for students aspiring to a career in construction, which we helped secure the funding for. But we would like to go further. Building Bristol aspires to change the perception of careers in construction, to open up more opportunities for young people, women and those with barriers to employment, and to help close the skills shortage within the construction industry. We hope the scheme will complement the work we are already doing and further aid us in making construction a more attractive and attainable career for people in Bristol.

Two Building Bristol employees wearing High visibility jackets look out the window. The Building Bristol logo sits on their backs.

Our commitment to support the construction industry is continuous.  Previously, we had signed a Unite Construction Charter committing to working with Unite in order to achieve the highest standards in respect of direct employment status, health & safety, standards of work, apprenticeship training and the implementation of appropriate nationally agreed terms and conditions of employment.

The launch of Building Bristol isn’t the first time we have strived for local people to experience the wider benefit from new construction developments. For example, Goram Homes in partnership with Bristol City Council, will be launching a Skills Academy for its One Lockleaze development in the early part of next year, an innovative training programme designed to create opportunities for local people to gain work experience and vocational qualifications.

This is just the start of the process, and we’ll be sharing stories of partners and their experience with Building Bristol.  For now, more information about the service is available here: Building Bristol

New changes to outdoor hospitality

Expanded outdoor hospitality has been a welcome addition across Bristol in response to the pandemic. It has supported local businesses and added more colour, vibrancy, and atmosphere to the streets. Many of us have enjoyed a meal or drink while sitting out in the city over the past couple of years. However, there are a number of national changes to how businesses can operate outdoors as we move beyond the pandemic.

Hospitality and the broader night time economy support the employment of a third of our workforce – more than 91,000 people. During the pandemic, there was an incredible response from the hospitality sector to adapt to changes, particularly those around outside dining, and our council rightly took a flexible approach to help support this.

We were able to do this because of legislation that was introduced by government which allowed councils to use temporary Traffic Regulation Orders (TROs) to support outdoor hospitality, permitting structures and furniture to be set up in parking bays. Disappointingly, the government chose not to renew this legislation and it has now expired. Outdoor hospitality can still be facilitated but permissions will now need to be sought.

We understand how frustrating this is for many businesses, particularly at a time when the sector is being hit hard by inflation alongside the wider impact of the cost of living crisis. We want to support businesses to continue to operate outdoors where we can, and we want to ensure businesses are clear on what they need to do next.

On streets that have been pedestrianised or are covered by traffic orders — such as Princess Victoria Street, the Old City, Cotham Hill, and King Street — businesses with existing outside structures should apply for retrospective planning permission. If granted, then they can then apply for a structures licence and pavement licence to place furniture on the highway outside their premises. In these areas, any existing structures can remain while going through this process and no enforcement action will be taken during that time.

On all other streets, structures and furniture must be removed. Planning permission can still be applied for but we cannot legally allow existing structures to remain in the interim due to the change in national legislation set out above.

We support reclaiming road space for people, where we can. By making the policies around this more robust, we can ensure outdoor hospitality structures add value and are suitable for their surroundings, and that any structures or furniture in the road are safe and don’t impact accessibility.

Getting the relevant permissions can be a complex process as this may require approval from up to three separate regimes: Planning, Highways (for structures and pavement licences), and Licensing (for alcohol licenses). Communication with businesses has sought to set this out as simply as possible, but I recognise how confusing this can be for business owners who have so many other concerns, which is why we will be producing an overarching guidance document that explains the process clearly.

Thank you again to Bristol’s businesses for working with us on this. I encourage anyone who is unclear about what this means for them to get in touch with our business team by emailing business@bristol.gov.uk

Deanfield Outdoor Centre celebrates 50 years as an education provider

Young person leaping onto the zip wire at Deanfield Outdoor Centre

Located in the beautiful Forest of Dean, Deanfield Outdoor Centre is a residential outdoor education centre, which is owned and operated by Bristol City Council’s Trading with Schools service. Since first opening its doors in September 1972, Deanfield has welcomed over 175,000 young people who have participated in outdoor activities and courses at the centre.

In early September, Deanfield celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with an event on site. Schools were invited along to the celebratory event along with other guests and current and former staff of Deanfield Outdoor Centre. Richard Hanks, Director of Education and Skills at Bristol City Council unveiled a standing stone to commemorate the centre’s fiftieth anniversary. A time capsule was also buried beside the stone for future generations of young people to discover.

The group standing by the standing stone as they celebrate 50 years of Deanfield Outdoor Centre.

As well as celebrating 50 years, the event also aimed to showcase the extensive activities and fantastic facilities that Deanfield has to offer. School children were encouraged to sample some of the activities including the zip wire, climbing tower, leap of faith, tunnels system and bushcraft.

I know how important it is for young people to get to experience nature. Being able to explore more of the world was a key experience of my own youth growing up in Bristol. For many young people growing up in cities, access to nature can be scarce, Deanfield Outdoor Centre does incredible work in making these experiences more widely accessible.

The environment is at the heart of Deanfield’s education programme as well as teaching about the benefits of outdoor activity. Being in the Forest of Dean, Deanfield incorporates its surroundings to create educational programmes centred around nature. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on our mental and physical wellbeing and many children have become even more disconnected from nature than ever before. The work that Deanfield does is instrumental in providing young people with a safe environment to build confidence and learn new skills in the outdoors. Young people are encouraged to experience and learn about their environment through activities such as bushcraft and orienteering.

Deanfield Outdoor Centre House, the building is covered in green moss.
Deanfield Outdoor Centre

The centre also caters for families during the summer and corporate groups throughout the year. Ground floor accommodation is fully accessible, and activities can be catered for young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

If you would like to find out more about Deanfield Outdoor Centre, please visit our website, or contact Deanfield Outdoor Centre directly on dfsc@bristol.gov.uk.

Reflecting on Bristol Education Partnership’s ‘Towards Net Zero’ Event

An image of the 'Towards net Zero' event in Bristol City hall.

Speaking at Bristol Education Partnership’s ‘Towards Net Zero’ event at City Hall yesterday was a great experience. Students and staff from ten Bristol secondary schools came together to share progress and plans on how to reach net zero by 2030.

The Bristol Education Partnership is a collaboration between fourteen of Bristol’s state and independent schools, Bristol City Council and the city’s two universities, working together to tackle disadvantage.

Student voice is a key part of the partnership, there are active Student Partnership Board representatives from all partner schools. They contribute to decision making on projects and create activities for the partnership to undertake.

I had the pleasure of speaking with some of these students at the event yesterday, they showed the pop-up exhibition, showcasing the work from their schools.

It was encouraging to see the positivity and passion these young people had towards the current climate and ecological crises. They were empowered to make a difference in their communities, the city and in the curriculum.

I enjoyed hearing about the diverse range of projects happening at schools across Bristol, including how Orchard have rewilded some of their grounds and created a working garden and compost. How Fairfield’s eco team are working with Sustrans to encourage more walking and cycling to school, Cotham School’s wildlife conservation group, and St Brendan’s tree planting mission, which has already planted 60 trees.

One of the billboards showing the schools work towards net zero.

At the event I was joined by Jonathan Clear, the Department for Education’s Chief Sustainability Officer, who was clearly impressed with the work of the Bristol Education Partnership. He said “I’d like to say a huge thank you to you all, it’s clear Bristol is doing so much as a community, it’s inspiring to the rest of the country. I was blown away talking to you school leaders, and how much they care about the students and the planet, it gives me a huge amount of faith”

Bristol’s Dr Mya-Rose Craig, the superb environmental activist and author ‘Birdgirl’, spoke to the students via video link from her university, telling the young people “keep doing what you’re doing, your voices will be heard, you can and will make a difference”.

The Bristol Education Partnership is one of a small number of state/independent partnerships across the country. This work is innovative in encouraging collaboration across the two sectors – with staff and students working together at many different levels, leveraging extensive support from university partners. 

The climate challenge and other projects run by the BEP has attracted well known speakers and visitors from across the UK and from overseas. Yesterday we were joined by representatives from the University of Bristol, Centre for Sustainable Energy, Resource Futures, Sustainable Hive, Sustrans and more.

As the first local authority to declare a climate emergency, we’re leading the way nationally in a commitment to net zero. The One City Climate Strategy was developed to tackle both the climate and ecological crisis together, as a city. It was truly inspiring to watch this collaboration between key partners in the city and see the fruition of work from the partnership.

I want to extend my thanks to all the students and teachers, schools and partners in the Bristol Education Partnership for sharing their ideas, and for their continued work to make their schools net zero. I also want to thank Burges Salmon for the support they have showed for the event, it has been a great success for all the students and partners.

More Information:

Read more about the Bristol Education Partnership

Find out what other climate action the council is taking

Get inspired to take climate action at the Bristol Climate Hub

Temple Quarter regeneration project picks up steam

We are seeing really exciting progress on one of Bristol’s most important regeneration areas, with plans to bring the historic train station at its heart into the 21st century.

When I last wrote about the Temple Quarter regeneration project back in June, I said the £95m of government funding the project had received would “kickstart” it after nearly a decade of preparation and planning. Now work is been happening at pace to deliver the first phase of the project, including new entrances at Temple Meads station, infrastructure and public realm improvements around the station.

The new Eastern Entrance will open into the University of Bristol’s Enterprise Campus, making the station more accessible, and will include welcoming public spaces for everyone to make use of and enjoy.

Combined with improvements to Station Approach and the surrounding areas, the project will create a world-class gateway to the West of England, set against the backdrop of Brunel’s historic Grade 1 listed station.

The concept image is of the new North Entrance, with people walking in and out of the station. With trees and buildings in the background.
How the North Entrance might look

My cabinet meeting this week will formally enter a collaboration agreement with the three Temple Quarter partners – Homes England, Network Rail and the West of England Combined Authority. While we’ve already been working together for some time, this agreement will formalise the relationship for the next phase as each partner takes on responsibility for different elements of delivery, working collectively towards the transformation of 130 hectares of central Bristol. New agreements will be put in place, enabling the council and Network Rail to receive and spend the funding given to the project by government, working through WECA, in June.

While this funding is for regenerating the areas in and around the station, we are also planning for the longer-term changes. Part of the agreement, and another benefit of the collaborative partnership approach, is that any income from land sales will be reinvested by the partners into later stages of the project in St Philip’s Marsh.

Because of our population growth, we know that many parts of Bristol will see a lot of change over the years to come. St Philip’s marsh will see even more than most, so it is important that we manage this dramatic change to get the best outcomes for existing residents and businesses.

A concept drawing of Temple Meads Midlands Shed View. the image shows the future Midlands Shed View with people walking through the station waiting areas.
Temple Meads Midlands Shed View

Works are soon to begin on Temple Island too. To enable new development here, brought forward by L&G and including homes, commercial space, and a much-needed conference centre for central Bristol, the council and its partners are preparing the site for development. You might have already seen workers dangling off the historic river wall to check its condition this summer. You can expect more activity on Temple Island in the coming weeks and months as the exciting plans begin to take shape.

Temple Quarter is one of the UK’s largest regeneration schemes, there is a lot to take in. Some changes will feel incremental, while others will be transformational in their scale and scope. As I wrote in my June blog, the size of our ambition at Temple Quarter highlights the importance of working in partnership with other public sector organisations, as well as continuing to work with the community to manage this transformational period of change to the benefit of as many people as possible.

We’ve been meeting community groups, business representatives and individuals to tell them more about the project and hear their early views on what we’re proposing. Temple Quarter is going to be a long process, with many smaller milestones along the way. We’ll be out there throughout, meeting with you, hearing your ideas, hopes and concerns, and bringing you all the latest news. We know the easiest way to understand something is to see it first-hand. We’re soon to start regular walking tours of the Temple Quarter sites. These will be open to all and will help to give a better idea of what change is proposed and where.

Sound interesting? You can sign up to hear more on the Temple Quarter website.

A place to call home – our vision for children’s homes across Bristol

Image of a red heart, with white outlines on a yellow background.

Making Bristol the best place for children to grow up in is something we’re passionate about. This is even more important when it comes to children in care. We want the children in our care to have a place they feel they can call home.

The circumstances in which children come into our care are often varied and complex. It’s vital we ensure no child is disadvantaged no matter their background or situation. Our teams are focused on ensuring the best possible homes are identified for them – this could be with a foster carer or in a children’s home.

In Bristol, we are working hard to increase the number of children’s homes we have locally so that children do not have to move away from the city and can stay close to their families, friends and schools. 

This is why we have set out a vision for our children’s homes across Bristol which involves focussing on opening smaller homes across the city to help children feel at home.

Our vision

We want our children’s homes to be homely and nurturing. We also strive for the children and young people who live in them to be looked after by kind, knowledgeable and experienced teams. The children should have lots of opportunities growing up, making sure they have access to the best education possible and giving give them the same or better opportunities as their peers so they can enjoy new and fun childhood experiences.

We also aim for the teams caring for children to have the supervision, support, training and development so that the care they provide is of the highest quality and they feel valued.

To help support this vision, we are currently re-profiling our existing homes by closing some of our larger homes and opening smaller homes for two to three children. This allows us to provide children with an environment that feels more like a home and gives them a better quality of care with more one on one support from our dedicated team.

Children are already benefitting from this strategy – we have opened three smaller homes across Bristol which currently care for seven children in total, with a fourth smaller home opening in autumn 2022. We also plan to open at least another three smaller homes in the next three years.

A photo of two houses next to each other, with the sky in the shot behind.

Positive feedback from Ofsted during a recent visit

Recently we have had the opportunity to share our plans with Ofsted. Ofsted’s National Director for Social Care Yvette Stanley, Ofsted’s Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman, and HMI Social Care Inspector Anna Greville visited one of our newer smaller homes and met with the Service Manager Tara Parsons, three of our registered managers and the therapeutic lead for the service. They also met with Mike Jackson, Chief Executive at Bristol City Council, and Gail Rogers, Head of Children’s Commissioning at Bristol City Council. During the visit we received very good feedback. Yvette Stanley said: “It was good to spend time with the residential staff teams who proudly shared their expertise and passion for their work and their children.

“It was also really helpful to meet the Chief Executive and senior managers and to hear about their plans for more therapeutic residential provision so that they can keep more children safely within their communities. Our thanks to all for their warm welcome and best wishes for their future plans.

My recent visit

I too had the pleasure of visiting one of our new children’s homes recently. There were a few things that I took from my visit.

The first is how being a city in which children have a home is a collective responsibility. These children have already been through a lot in their short lives, and they deserve to have somewhere they call home and stay in the city they are from.

The move from large to smaller family homes is welcome. This means more dedicated care and the creation of a more homely environment for the children.

Finally, I need to mention the commitment of the staff at the home I visited. They work tirelessly to make sure the children are well cared for and have access to lots of opportunities. Their situation means they won’t have a childhood like many of their peers, but the staff work to make sure they lead full lives and feel cared for.

Why not join the team?

If you want to be a part of the journey of our children in care, why not join our team during this exciting time?

We currently have vacancies for three Senior Residential Child Care Workers and one Residential Child Care Worker. The vacancies Senior Residential Child Care Workers close on 6 October 2022 and the vacancy for Residential Child Care Worker closes on 4 October 2022.

The Climate Smart Cities Challenge Winners Announced

Jessie Hayden smiling in front of a brick wall. Jessie is the projects and Policy Lead for Bristol Housing Festival.
Today’s guest blog is from Jessie Hayden, Projects and Policy Lead for Bristol Housing Festival

‘The challenge’ is city-based innovation competition to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Organised by UN-Habitat, technologists, businesses, and investors are invited to develop, test and scale cutting-edge solutions.

Bristol has been selected alongside Bogota in Colombia, Curitiba in Brazil, and Makindye Ssabagabo in Uganda. The focus of the Climate Smart Cities Challenge is to design a project at neighbourhood level that will showcase how cities can co-create new ideas together with innovators that make cities more sustainable and climate smart.

Team Thriving Places was announced as Bristol’s winning team for the international Climate Smart Cities Challenge on the 28th September in a celebratory online event. Zoe Metcalfe, director at engineering consultants Atkins, a member of the Thriving Places team, said Bristol was well-placed to benefit from winning the global competition given its proactive approach to achieving net zero targets.

The initiative presented the opportunity to invite global innovators and technologists to work on one of the city’s key challenges: developing an economic model for affordable, energy-efficient homes. This challenge was identified by Bristol City Council, Bristol One City and Bristol Housing Festival as one that if solved, could give significant momentum to the city’s priority to tackle the climate and ecological crises and the housing crisis. It will focus on developing brownfield sites in the city that have been considered unviable, and yet may hold the key to unlocking hundreds of energy-efficient, carbon neutral, affordable homes.

At the heart of the winning team is EDAROTH (Everybody Deserves A Roof Over Their Head), a wholly owned subsidiary of Atkins that provides energy efficient homes using carbon neutral, modern methods of construction. The core team also includes Igloo Regeneration, a leading UK responsible real estate business which funds, delivers and animates great places and the Bristol-based, award winning housing association Brighter Places, which delivers better places and inclusive homes. The team will work with the city, investors, and other partners to demonstrate new pathways and capabilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while also contributing to nature restoration, social justice, health, security, employment, and other societal benefits.

45 finalists were chosen in January 2022, and now the winning teams will share up to 400,000 euro to develop their ideas in a planning phase to build towards demonstrating their solutions in the cities in 2023, with the ultimate aim of creating solutions that will create better futures in cities around the world.

A leaflet announcing the winners of the Climate Smart Cities Challenge. On the right of the image is a circle with an image of a city inside. Orange text reads Bogota - Bristol - Curitiba - Makindye Ssabagabo, Meet the Climate Smart Cities Challenge Winners! September 28 17:00 CET online event register now!

Bristol was the first U.K. authority to declare a climate emergency and have since declared ecological emergency in response to the local decline of wildlife, a sign of Mayor Marvin Rees’s commitment to see Bristol lead the way in this space.

The winner’s announcement comes a few weeks before L&G Modular homes officially launch their Bristol development Bonnington Walk in Lockleaze, which was awarded an Excellent rating under the Building with Nature certifcation, and a few months after the Mayor chose to protect wildlife site Novers Hill from planned development. As the built environment is responsible for 25% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, the Climate Smart Cities Challenge is an important piece of Bristol’s puzzle and one that will continue to create the momentum needed to reach its ambitious goals.

Stay updated on the Climate Smart Cities Challenge here.

£4.8m funding allocated for Family Hubs and the Start for Life programme

Councillor Asher Craig
Today’s guest blog is from Councillor Asher Craig, Deputy Mayor for Children’s Services, Education and Equalities and Labour Councillor for St George West

The early years of a child’s life are so important as this is the time when the foundations for their development are set. We also know that it is vital that they have the support they need throughout childhood and onwards through their teenage and transition years into young adulthood.

That’s why I’m thrilled that Bristol is one of 75 local authorities that has been selected by the Government for a portion of over £300 million of funding, to support the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme in the local area. This is on top of a Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) grant of £97,000 over two years, which supports services to help parents develop effective relationships and reduce conflict in the home.

The £4.8 million of funding for our Family Hub Start for Life programme will help to support the vision for children and young people set out in Bristol’s Belonging Strategy. The strategy’s aim is that everyone in Bristol will have the best start in life and to get the support, help and skills they need as they grow up to prosper in adulthood.

The funding for Bristol over the next three years will help to develop Family Hubs to make it easier for families to access information, support, and services when they need it. This is especially important in areas with the highest levels of deprivation and disproportionately poor health and educational outcomes, as we know from our efforts to protect Bristol’s children’s centres and avoid the mass closures seen elsewhere since 2010.

Through the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, parents and carers will receive more dedicated support to better help them nurture and care for their babies and children, ensuring they have the very best start to life. Family Hubs are a great way to join up the planning and delivery of services in a local community or area and will bring together a range of services to improve the connections between providers, professionals and families. The aim is that they are a front door to universal support and early help.

A child draws inside a carboard box at Bristol City Council's play day event in Eastville park.
Bristol City Council’s play day event in Eastville park

While the Start for Life programme will focus many funded services on babies and young children and help us in furthering our ambitions to be a Child Friendly City, it will link into the wider Family Hubs programme offering services for families with older children and young people up to the age of 25.

The programme is still in the early stages of development but it’s important to know that these Hubs aren’t about creating new buildings; it’s about connecting the dots, so families have a “one-stop shop” to universal and early help ranging from infant feeding support to mental health support, parenting and family support and help in accessing specialist help, at their fingertips.

This could look like a mixture of physical and virtual spaces, as well as outreach where families can easily access professional support for the challenges they’re facing. We will also strive to build on the existing services on offer, such as midwifery, family support workers and voluntary and community sectors. We also wish to build on delivering services from some of our children’s centres with the aim of developing this approach more widely across the city as well as considering how we can develop young people-friendly hubs.

We’re really pleased to be developing the Family Hubs model, working together with a wide network of partners and organisations already doing incredible work for our children, young people and families in the city. Together we are stronger, and we can make sure that people can access the right support whenever they need it.

£15 million plan for Education investment in Bristol

We all want children to have the best opportunities in life, no matter their background. That’s why we’re supporting the opening of new schools and expanding existing ones to make sure we meet the growing demand for school places in Bristol. 

In 2020, we made a commitment to increase spending for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to enable us to expand classroom spaces and improve SEND facilities. Through careful planning, plans to invest another almost £15 million from the Department for Education into SEND schools to create an additional 204 specialist places in Bristol by 2024.

The SEND projects funded through phase two of the council’s Education Capital Programme would lead to major improvements to current special schools and many mainstream schools to meet the needs of more Bristol children, through refurbishment and new builds, including a new Independent Living Centre at the City of Bristol College (Phase 3 of ‘Project Rainbow’).

The photo shows the aerial view of plans for the new school on Daventry road. The photo as houses circling around multiple sports fields at the bottom of the image and 5 main buildings that take up the north part of the site.
Plans for Oasis Academy Daventry Road

We are already making significant investments in our SEND provision with the first phase of our ambitious Education Capital Programme, which is on track to create 142 places by February next year. A new £8.5 million state-of-the-art school, Elmfield School for Deaf Children, is already underway and due for completion around Easter 2023. The new and refurbished school buildings, specifically designed for the sensory needs of deaf children, will be co-located with the adjacent Upper Horfield Community School.

I’m also thrilled that, working in partnership with the Department for Education, two new secondary schools are expected to open in Bristol next year, ready for the new school year in September 2023.

Feasibility works are currently underway to open the new Oasis Academy Daventry Road in temporary accommodation on the existing site of Oasis Academy John Williams in Hengrove from September 2023. The school’s permanent purpose-built school on Daventry Road in Knowle is expected to be completed in September 2024, and work is currently in progress to prepare the site for construction.

The temporary location of the new Oasis Academy Temple Quarter secondary school has also recently been announced. The new school will be based temporarily on Spring Street in Bedminster while the permanent, purpose-built school is constructed on Silverthorne Lane. Feasibility works including surveys are currently underway at the Spring Street site ahead of an expected opening in September 2023. 

The photo shows plans for Oasis Academy Temple Quarter school building. There is a road running from bottom right across the bottom of the image, with the main building sitting in the centre. On the right there is a brick archway leading to a car park.
Plans for Oasis Academy Temple Quarter

The council owns the site on Spring Street and is already leasing a small separate section of it to Help Bristol’s Homeless, a charity who support homeless people in our city. Once the school has opened in Temple Quarter, Goram Homes will progress its plans to build much needed affordable homes on the Spring Street site. A regeneration framework for the area around Whitehouse Street is currently being prepared and this will be used to help shape future planning applications for the site, alongside further consultation and engagement with the community.

The permanent site of Oasis Academy Temple Quarter on Silverthorne Lane was granted planning permission in April 2022. The school’s permanent building is expected to be completed in September 2025, and work is currently underway preparing the site for construction.

If you have a child that was born between 1 September 2011 and 31 August 2012, you will be able to apply for a secondary school place at Oasis Academy Daventry Road and Oasis Academy Temple Quarter from 12 September 2022.

Oasis Community Learning will be hosting events for families to find out more about the new schools and how they can apply for a place throughout September and October 2022. Applications in the first year will be managed directly by Oasis Community Learning.

The image shows a sketch of the Oasis Academy Temple Quarter building, it has trees and buildings surrounding it on either side.
Sketch of Oasis Academy Temple Quarter

To find out more:

  • Oasis Academy Daventry Road
  • Oasis Academy Temple Quarter

GCSE and Level Two VTQ Results Day

Congratulations to all the young people who have received their GCSE and Level Two VTQ (Vocational Technical Qualifications) results today (25 August).

Results day can be a very exciting but very stressful time, especially when the past two years haven’t been easy.

With home schooling and virtual learning playing a significant part in your education due to national lockdowns, you have had to overcome some unusual obstacles during the last few years. I hope you take the time to celebrate and recognise what you have achieved.

If you didn’t get the results you were hoping for, don’t give up! These results are just the beginning.

Marvin is sat on the right of the image with the pupil on the left of him. The pupil is holding a book that Marvin is pointing at. Behind them both is a light brown bookcase full of books.
Marvin reading with a pupil on a school visit

I ended up getting five Cs and a D in GCSEs myself, but I didn’t let that knock me back and through hard work I was able to eventually go to university. No matter the outcome of today, you can still do well in the future. There are many different options available to young people. You may wish to start a vocational course or continue to study towards A-Levels, while others may step into the working world through an apprenticeship. It may take you time to decide your path and that is also ok.

If you didn’t get the results you were hoping for or you need help or advice around exam results and next steps, you can contact the National Careers Service Exam Results Helpline on 0800 100 900. The free helpline is now open from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, and 10am to 5pm on Saturdays. For mental health support and information, please visit www.youngminds.org.uk.

There is information available about Post 16 pathways and options on the Post 16 Participation website www.bristolesl.com/bristolpost16. Or you can contact Bristol City Council’s Post 16 Participation team on post16participation@bristol.gov.uk or 01173525750.

The Post 16 Participation team are also running an event on Wednesday 31 August from 1-3:30pm at The Station on Silver Street (BS1 2AG), where you can get advice on what to do next and join in with CV and interview skills workshops. More information here – www.bristolesl.com/bristolpost16/2022/08/step-to-future-post-exam-result-event/.

To the older people reading this, I would like to echo what I said in my A-level blog. Now that we are living with COVID-19, it doesn’t mean that we have seen the end of the impact that the pandemic has had on the education of our young people, and it is important that we continue to support them following these difficult times.