News / Sea Mills
Is this Bristol’s most exclusive school?
Several years in the making and beset by building delays after contractor MIDAS went into administration, a new school has now opened on the site of a demolished Infants School in Sea Mills.
Resplendent in red brick, its facilities include purpose built lab and art spaces, an all-weather sports pitch and a wildlife area.
Just eight students are currently enrolled with another eight set to join before Christmas.
is needed now More than ever
Ultimately, the school will accommodate 85 students aged between eight and sixteen.
North Star 265 is the fourth school managed by North Star Academy Trust.
It will provide vital alternative provision for pupils who are struggling in mainstream schools and at risk of permanent exclusion.
Most students will have a short stay at the school, their needs will be assessed in order to facilitate a supported move back to mainstream school.
The school recently invited local residents to view the new facilities where headteacher Rob Skelton thanked the community for their patience during the prolonged construction.
“It’s very unusual to get this type of provision in a brand new building,” Rob said, “most alternative provision is in older, sometimes falling apart buildings. This is very forward thinking and shows these children that they are valued.”
Local residents were made welcome in the new school hall – photo: Mary Milton
Rob explains that the new school will work with class sizes of no more than eight students. There will be an emphasis on building trust with a key adult, and limiting stressful transitions between school spaces during the day.
After the recent local residents’ visit, it’s clear there is an interest in and a need for the school.
One of the attendees, Sarah Warren, said her son, “felt like a prisoner” in mainstream school. He coped in primary school, in a special small class, but the larger secondary school classes were overwhelming for him and Sarah was constantly being called by the school to bring him home. After being in and out of school since age 12, her now 14-year-old son was eventually permanently excluded in March.
Sarah Warren drives her son across Bristol for alternative provision – photo: Mary Milton
Sarah has been driving her son to alternative provision in Fishponds where he attends a few hours, twice a week. His current school is so far away that she waits in the area while he’s there before driving home again.
Having a child not attending school affects the whole family, “I feel stuck, I’m on my own,” Sarah said. As her son is autistic, she receives a carer’s allowance but she has been unable to work or leave him on his own.
North Star 265 is tantalisingly close to Sarah’s house, just a mile away. She fears this new provision has come too late for her son though, as they won’t be accepting his age group until Easter.
Another young person present at the open afternoon is 16 year old Bailey Marshall. He’s been through the North Star school system and will soon be going to college to study sports. He’s currently helping the school with the opening.
Bailey was polite and thoughtful throughout the day and, when he talked about playing football with some of the new pupils his face lit up. He struggled in mainstream school and didn’t feel the teachers understood him, or could take the time to try. He enjoys helping others.
Bailey in one of the newly opened classrooms at North Star 265 – photo: Mary Milton
He spoke very warmly of North Star and said he feels respected,
Bailey said: “The teachers talk to you like a friend, they notice when something is wrong and ask if you are alright.”
When asked what he thinks he would be doing without the help he has had at North Star, Bailey suddenly looked serious: “I’ve thought about that a lot recently and I really don’t know. I don’t think I would be doing anything.”
Bailey thinks he might like to be a personal trainer or maybe a teacher one day.
Sarah’s son, meanwhile, is currently thinking about becoming an electrician. He’s now receiving home tutoring, and is building a model railway in his free time, but he’s missed a lot of schooling. Sarah hopes he will get an apprenticeship but will support him in anything he wants to do.
North Star 265 headteacher Rob Skelton points out that when children are excluded from school this often means they are also excluded from their communities. It’s important to get them back. That’s why he wants the school to work with local people: “You will see us out in the community, we want to be part of the community.”
Mary Milton is reporting on Sea Mills as part of Bristol24/7’s community reporter scheme, a project which aims to tell stories from areas of Bristol traditionally under-served by the mainstream media
Main photo: Mary Milton
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