Due to staff training this week, we have paused our normal weekly newsletter - we will return to our usual format of class articles next week.

Have a great weekend and good luck for those running/walking/taking part in the PTA Fun Run tomorrow.

Dear Parents and Carers

This week we will be sharing a short version of our newsletter, but will return to our usual format of class articles next week.

It has been heartening to see so many parents and carers joining us for our welcome meetings and we have been grateful for the discussions and feedback coming from these. Prompted by a very helpful and supportive discussion with parents this week, I would like to share the very real challenges that we currently face at Christ Church to ensure that we, as a community, are able to look forward positively to finding ways to continue to thrive. I would ask you to forgive the initial ‘gloomy’ tone but hope to balance this with some potentially positive ideas.

Christ Church is, in our opinion, an exceptional school and community. We have for some time experienced a changeable pattern of rising and falling numbers of pupils and more recently, this has shown an overall gradually declining trend due to the national statistics on falling birth rates. This in turn has a direct correlation to a reduction in funding provided to the school each year, as schools receive funding per pupil numbers.

In our research to understand the schools’ pattern of pupil numbers, alongside the work of Bristol City Council, we know that this is due to the impact of a nationally and locally falling birth rate, local place planning arrangements and specifically for us the significant loss of older pupils to the local private sector. Coupled with the crippling effect of inadequate funding from central government, the SEND crisis, teacher recruitment issues and a post-Covid landscape, these are some of the most challenging years in education that we have perhaps seen in more recent times. Sadly, this is a reality, not rhetoric with over two thirds of UK schools reporting a deficit budget, and it is very much present in the balance of striving to provide the very best that we can for every child.

Christ Church is a Single Academy Trust and has chosen to remain so for the foreseeable future. We are therefore responsible for every aspect of the vision, management, leadership, organisation, quality of provision and financial accountability. The critical balance of every decision made must therefore be fully and carefully considered, with particular focus on the medium, and long-term future and I can assure you that all decisions place every child at the heart of any planned change.

With the gloomy bit out of the way, somewhat conversely and set against clear and positive indicators, we remain very much a school of choice with a thriving and full Reception year intake for this year. It is our absolute belief that our excellent provision, happy community and optimistic vision will enable us to thrive in both the present and the future, by embracing managed change and working together to find solutions.

It is a fact of education that children need adults supporting them to flourish. We are therefore seeking volunteers to work with us to increase the support that we can provide for the children. If you have any time available on a regular basis, however little, we would welcome your help.

As a critical foundation of learning, reading support is something that makes a huge difference to children. The opportunity to read aloud with a volunteer adult in school is a precious resource and our current volunteers bring a much-needed addition to our ability to provide this.

We also value greatly other forms of learning support, from simply working alongside a small group of children to helping out at lunchtime. If you are able to offer some regular support (weekly, fortnightly, monthly), please do email the school office with your details and availability. We can offer some training and support and of course can highly recommend the rewards of working with children!

We do have spaces in our current year 1, 4 and 5 year groups and are also running our new Reception 2026 tours. We would be grateful if you are able to spread the word, share our social media posts and recommend our school to anyone interested.

I would also like to thank you all for your generosity this year and in past years, in giving a voluntary contribution to enable us to bring so much more to the children’s enjoyment and enrichment in their learning. This makes an enormous difference to every child.

Please forgive the somewhat dismal financial picture of the educational landscape painted in my initial account, but in the interests of respectful transparency, this is currently where we all find ourselves. Our assurance to you is that we are here for the children, no matter what and will continue to use every resource available to us to ensure that they continue to flourish.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend ahead and we hope to see you at our first PTA event on Saturday 27^th September, at Clifton College New Field from 10am.

Yours sincerely

Mark Oldfield

Headteacher

Term dates 2025-26:

• Term 1 Tuesday 2nd September 2025 to Friday 24th October 2025 (Inset days Tues 2nd and Weds 3rd Sept, children not in school)
• Term 2 Monday 3rd November 2025 to Friday 19th December 2025
• Term 3 Monday 5th January 2026 to Friday 13th February 2026 (Inset day Mon 5th Jan children not in school) 
• Term 4 Monday 23rd February 2026 to Thursday 2nd April 2026
• Term 5 Monday 20th April 2026 to Friday 22nd May 2026 (Academy day Fri 22nd May children not in school) 
• Term 6 Monday 1st June 2026 to Wednesday 22nd July 2026 (Inset days Mon 20th, Tues 21st and Academy day Weds 22nd July, children not in school)