Dear Families,

We hope you have enjoyed the first part of the summer term and are looking forward to the half term break.

Since our last letter to you we have been in contact with the Department for Education (DfE) requesting an update on the Matford Brook Academy (MBA) permanent building. We have this week received an update from them below:

“Since the previous contractor entered administration, the DfE been working with independent technical advisers to assess the condition of the building and determine the most appropriate legal and construction pathways to safely and efficiently complete the project.
Once the department has determined the best way forward, we will share this information with the school, the Ted Wragg Trust and local authority for dissemination to students and their families/carers.”

We are disappointed that the DfE are still unable to share any more details with our community, or offer probable timescales, but we are confident that they are working hard to find a path forward which results in the best school possible. We are grateful for all your understanding and partnership, and you can continue to contact the DfE directly if you have questions via their online form here.

We share in your frustration that MBA is still waiting for its permanent home and are working hard to do everything we can to support the DfE, Devon County Council and others to expedite this process. As you can see in their response above, the DfE have confirmed that as soon as they are in a position to do so they will share future plans with us, and we will share these updates with you as soon as we receive them.

We appreciate the support and advocacy of the school’s local Councillor and MP who continue to support us to help ensure that our build remains a priority.
We look forward to welcoming more students into our Matford Brook Academy community at the start of the new school year in September, within our Novel Building, which will be our home until building work is completed on our permanent site.

As a community we will continue to focus on writing our story together as we enjoy a summer term full of excellent education, enriching pupil experiences and fun events. We are excited to welcome you to our all-through sports day and Family & Friends picnic in July, and the Matford Brook Academy Team will be in touch with more details soon.

Best wishes,

Tim Rutherford

Deputy CEO, Ted Wragg Trust

Dear Families,

We hope that you have enjoyed the start of term and are excited for continued pupil learning and enriching experiences.

As we begin the Summer Term, we recognise that many of you are keen to have an update on the Matford Brook Academy building.

We understand the impact the ongoing uncertainty is having on both pupils and staff and are continuing to work hard to gain clarity and information from the Department for Education (DfE) on the plans for the permanent site. They reassure us that they are working behind the scenes to confirm the new timeline and actions they will take, however they are not yet able to share any meaningful information with us.

We wanted to let you know that we are regularly requesting updates and as soon as we have more clarity, we will let you know. We anticipate being able to provide more details before the end of this half term. In the meantime, do contact the DfE directly if you have questions using the form linked here.

As we await more information, we continue to write our story together. The temporary building continues to be fully equipped to allow us to teach our planned broad and varied curriculum. The school team is continuing to grow, with more teaching staff coming on board in September to help deliver excellent education and offer more opportunities for learning both inside and outside the classroom.

We are hugely grateful for all your patience and support, and we hope to be able to share some positive news with you soon.

With warm wishes,

Tim and Hannah

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

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