Headteacher's Welcome

Welcome to Bridgetown Primary School

On behalf of the children, staff and governors, I would like to welcome you to Bridgetown Primary School. We hope you find our website clear and informative. It is designed to give you a flavour of the vibrant life of our school, the work of our pupils and the high-quality education we strive to deliver.

We are a popular, forward-thinking primary school on the edge of Stratford-upon-Avon. As a larger primary school, we are able to offer an extensive range of expertise from our dedicated staff team, as well as modern facilities, the latest technologies and spacious grounds, including our large sports field, memorial garden, MUGA (multi-use games area) pitch, outdoor stage and Forest School site.  

Here at Bridgetown we are very proud of Stratford’s heritage and we use every opportunity we can to make connections with the local and wider community, having strong connections with the RSC, Shakespeare's birthday and the Stratford Literary Festival.

We have hardworking, well-behaved and happy pupils, and visitors often comment positively on the stimulating environment and inclusive, caring ethos. They describe our atmosphere as friendly, respectful and nurturing. We care about the individual and pride ourselves in the warmth of a community in which all our pupils feel valued. Indeed, the children are at the heart of every decision we make.

But please do not just take my word for the successes... the quotes below are all from Bridgetown families or members of our community.

If you would like to know more about our school, please come and visit – the children, staff and I look forward to welcoming you.

Best wishes,

Mark Szortowski
Headteacher

'Hats off to the year 5 team on Tuesday too, a super Greek day! I really enjoyed helping and loved how much care and thought had gone into it. The children loved it, lots of life skills learnt and great to see how ambitious it was. Thanks to all' - Y5 parent

'Huge thanks for organising the visit to Bridgetown this morning.  You have a truly lovely school.  I was really impressed by the children I saw and their fabulous attitudes to their learning and each other.  As well, all the staff made us feel very welcome and seemed very relaxed about having us visit their classrooms. I was particularly struck by the 'small school' feel as a result of the careful zoning by key stage.  The school building facilitates this so well.  Among the many excellent things we saw going round was the Aviary which is a delightful space and rightly located at the heart of the school.  I very much liked the nurturing and flexible ethos.  It's a hard thing to get right but I sense you have and in itself says much about the true values of the school. There was so much else to admire like the strong commitment to promoting values, the idea of developing your pupils as vocal citizens, the wide range of opportunities available, the importance attached to parental involvement and the general sense of enthusiasm and innovation. First impressions count for a lot and this morning certainly gave a super picture of your school. Please do pass on my thanks to all the staff who helped host our visit and also to Ms Pinkerton (apologies, I failed to note her first name) who was an excellent tour guide. Thank you again for such an enjoyable and uplifting morning' - Governor from SUAS  

'I had such a lovely time in Arete, I think the teachers are all superstars and deserve a medal!  The care and dedication is really impressive, I've always had a high opinion of the school and the trip just proved how supportive the teachers are to the children and each other. I was made to feel really welcome and included.  I would also like to add a massive thank you to Mrs Millward and group 1, for making the daily activities really fun. Thank you once again, it was really was a pleasure to attend the school trip' - Y6 parent

'Thank you for arranging for parents (and grandparents) to come and watch the choir yesterday. It was really wonderful, and such joyful songs They are an absolute credit to the school. The children are so fortunate to be at such a brilliant school that facilitates such great opportunities for them' - Y6 and Y3 parent

'I thought after another action packed week I would just say how lovely it is to walk to school in the morning with the girls and listen to such positivity about Bridgetown on the way .They just  love coming to school. It isn’t only my grandchildren - it is all around. For me, it is a really great way to start the day with so many smiles. Thank you once again to you and your staff' - Y5 and Y2 grandparent

'It is a real credit to you that Bridgetown is one of a handful of schools in Stratford which is continuing to operate, seemingly unaffected by the strikes. To us, this says that you have created an incredibly supportive and welcoming working environment for your staff, which in turn allows the teaching staff to create a similar environment, in which the children can grow and learn. I was at the year assembly for the reception students this morning and, like you, was impressed by the support by the teaching staff and by the turnout of the parents. Again, this demonstrates the incredible successes of you and your teams’ efforts. - Reception parent 

'I just wanted to say congratulations to you and the team on the Enhanced Values Award, and also the fact Bridgetown is nearly at capacity! Thoroughly well-deserved, we appreciate how hard you all work to make the school so great!' - Y5 parent

'Thank you for the lovely welcome at Bridgetown. There is such an energy and positivity about the whole school' - Values assessor

'I wanted to write to thank you for your time and commitment in bringing the choir to the Young Voices event recently at Birmingham. We all really loved the performances and it was clearly such a wonderful experience for all of the children to be part of. 
We really appreciate that a lot of work goes into this and wanted to acknowledge our gratitude to all involved' - Y5 parent

'It was such a great event and so lovely to see all the children enjoying themselves so much. Thank you for organising such great events for the children of Bridgetown. I can imagine the logistics and planning for things like this are huge, but it really is appreciated' - Y6 parent

'It was our first experience of the Bridgetown carol service and I just wanted to thank you for a magical and memorable service. It was wonderful to see all the children taking part, singing in harmonies and rounds, using instruments. I had to do some rapid blinking after the first choir song! I don't think I was expecting it to be so amazing, so thank you!' - Y4 parent

'We are sincerely grateful for the care that we received in your wonderful school.  You are incredible' - Y2 parent

'We would just like to thank you for such a warm welcome to Bridgetown today. The school at first glance was fantastic' - Y4 parent

Thank you for a wonderful year for H. He really enjoys being part of your school and I have to say that the quality of education and overall service that Bridgetown provides is exemplary' - Y3 parent

'I just need to let you know how amazing some of your children were at the Jubilee service last weekend....Thank you for installing such a love of music and confidence within your children' - Community member

'It's so heartening that you support the arts so much and give all the children a chance to express themselves and be a part of something'  - Y5 parent