Our Academy is situated in Fishponds, a suburb of Bristol which is well known for its warm welcome and heart.

It has a real community feel to it, with numerous local shops and businesses. The centre of the city, with its wide range of historical sites, shops, art galleries and attractions is only a short trip away. The Academy enjoys a positive relationship with all members of the community including local secondary schools and academies and in particular with the two parishes of St Mary’s and All Saints, both in Fishponds.

Although we have children attending school from a wide range of faiths and of none, we have close links with the two churches and children visit the churches regularly. 

The school itself was originally formed in September 2000 following the amalgamation of two former Church of England schools when some additions to the building were made. In September 2012 we became an Academy, changing our name from St Matthias and Dr Bell's CE VA Primary School to Fishponds Church of England Academy, one of the first Voluntary Aided Primary Schools  to become a sponsored Academy in the country.

Loving to Learn, Learning to Love

As a whole school we have been recently revisited our vision of 'Loving to Learn, Learning to Love'. The word ‘Love’ stands out in our vision as the most important value and we have been thinking about what love is and what this should mean for all of us at Fishponds Church of England Academy.

As a Church of England Primary school, we underpin all that we do from the teachings found in the Bible. The Bible passage that we have chosen to underpin all that we do in school is:

1 Corinthians 13 v 4-7 - Love is patient and kind; Love is not jealous or boastful; It is not arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; It is not irritable or resentful; It does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

We have chosen this passage because it gives a really clear explanation about what ‘love’ is and how we should treat one another. The historical context of the passage also means a lot to us. This passage forms part of a letter written by St Paul in AD 50 -58, he was writing to some of the first Christians to explain how to live in well in the city of Corinth. Corinth was a city of many cultures, languages and belief systems, much like our own community of Fishponds. This means this passage is still relevant today!  We believe that if every one of us lived our lives  by the principles of this text, the world would be a much better place! We have adjusted our values in order to align with the passage. (See image to the right)

Essentially, as a school, our aim is to teach the children in our care to love one another, develop skills that enable positive relationships to blossom. We maintain hope and believe that all children can be successful in learning the skills and knowledge needed to flourish in life. We will continue to persevere and believe that we can make a positive difference to all who come through the doors of our school.

As a school community, we have established a number of core values. We understand that these values need to be lived as well as taught by everyone in our school.  

Our Values for Life

We have 12 core values based on the Bible passage above. These values although rooted in the Bible are really 'Values for Life' and transcend all faiths or walks of life. 

We focus on one of our 'Values for Life' every term. For example 'Love' or 'Respect'. Each week in collective worship (assembly) sessions, a new question is explored.  These are our 'Questions of the Week' and help guide and develop our thinking about each value. As a school, we want to enable all children to develop their own spirituality and learn to live life showing these values. 

If you're searching for your next teaching post, why not contact us now? You'll be working at a great school and be part of a friendly, helpful team. We're always interested to hear from enthusiastic, committed teachers!

DBAT was founded in 2012, enabling the Diocese of Bristol’s Board of Education to sponsor academies.

DBAT families of schools work together on teaching, learning and administrative work, ensuring that collaboration results in improved outcomes in all areas.

Mission Statement

DBAT’s core purposes are to:

• focus on improving the educational experiences, employment prospects and life chances of young people, especially those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds;
• demonstrate that children’s life-chances are improved when their formal education is within the context of an Academy that is founded in the Christian tradition, establishes an ethos that is distinctively Christian and embraces the very best practices in teaching, learning, leadership, management and safety;
• accelerate students’ levels of attainment and achievement, and raises student, teacher and parental aspirations and ambitions;
  help to create more cohesive communities enhancing opportunities for social mobility by striving to eliminate the attainment gap between students from disadvantaged backgrounds and young people who by circumstances of birth and inheritance take for granted their automatic right to a good education
• transform the overall performance of underperforming schools in deprived areas, helping to improve and innovate in all aspects of teaching, learning and leadership and promoting the development of future leaders.

Vision

Diocese of Bristol Academies Trust (DBAT) aspires to transform the educational landscape of the Diocese, working with all Church academies (including educationally under-performing academies in disadvantaged socio-economic areas) to accelerate student attainment and contribute to community cohesion, so transforming academy performance and students’ life chances through excellent leadership.

Values

DBAT adopts the Diocesan values for schools which is that families of schools collectively meet all students’ needs and are based on the fundamental belief that all students can achieve, succeed and thrive. We own that it is our job to ensure this happens so that:

• Families protect all their member schools
• Families of schools meet the needs of all employees
• Families facilitate knowledge transfer
• Families distribute innovation
• Families save time and money
• Families ensure that all students can achieve, succeed and thrive
• Families deal effectively with special educational needs
• Families support new and existing leaders
• Families embed the capacity to improve/manage change
• Families build leadership capacity and succession
• Families aid the integration of Children’s services

In all Families there will be stronger and weaker partners but all are valued.

For more vacancies for DBAT please click here.