Work is ongoing to rebuild Yatton Infant School following the fire that happened in May 2023. The rebuild process has provided a great chance for pupils to learn and feel a part of the ongoing construction work - and their new school building. The teams involved have taken the opportunity to help to engage pupils minds in what construction involves, and introduced them to different career paths.

The building work is currently on schedule to be completed towards the start of 2025/26, and we are pleased to be able to share some photos of the build progress and pupils visits!

In March, Easton CE Primary was featured on BBC Points West, in a wonderful heart-warming story covering the school applying for Sanctuary Status for refugees.

A School of Sanctuary is a school that has received recognition of its good practice in fostering a culture of welcome, belonging and solidarity for those seeking safety. Once approved, Easton CE Primary School will join LSP schools Blagdon Primary School and St Mary Redcliffe CE Primary School who have both been awarded Schools of Sanctuary. 

The feature looked at all the incredible work the school are doing, as part of becoming a School of Sanctuary, in order to help refugee children feel welcome and supported as they adjust to life in the UK.

The BBC piece was an excellent example of how the school is living their values "Being different. Belonging together".

Thank you so much to all parents/carers who completed the Parents' Surveys back in May.

Your feedback and comments have been shared with your Headteachers, Senior Leaders, Governors and Trustees at the LSP so they can be considered as part of school development plans for the coming academic year.

We'd like to say a big “Thank You” to all our Lighthouse Business Partners who have supported us this year! As always, your support is very much appreciated and we look forward to working with you next year! 

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Could you help young people in the local area develop employability skills and careers knowledge? Does your company want to improve its community social responsibility agenda? Joining the Lighthouse Business Partnership will improve the lives of young people across out Trust. We offer our official Business Partners:

• Public recognition of your support: additional coverage of specific help and sponsorship of events on social media and in newsletters.
• Company logo display and promotion: Business Partners logos are prominently displayed in the Reception areas of our four secondary schools, as well as on our Business Partners’ website and during our Business Breakfast events.
• Enrich and enhance the delivery of education and careers: Enrich and enhance the delivery of education and careers to young people in the North Somerset and BANES area and create greater awareness of, and interest in, your sector.
• Engage with our students: Engage with our dynamic students through work experience, apprenticeship opportunities, networking sessions, and more.
• Invitations to Business Partnership Events: Invitations to business partnership events, including our bi-annual business breakfast event.
• Ability to use and promote partnership status: We grant businesses permission to use our partnership logo on publicity materials and to advertise your support of schools in the larger community.

Find out more by visiting: https://lspcareers.org.uk/business-employer-opportunities/ or email businesspartnership@lsp.org.uk to sign up.

Since the last edition of The Beacon, 10 of our schools have been inspected by Ofsted. These most recent inspections highlight the great work colleagues are doing in schools for our pupils.

(Note: Since September 2024 one-word Ofsted judgements have been removed for all new graded inspections)

Following its visit from Ofsted inspectors in May 2025, Churchill Academy & Sixth Form, has been rated as Good in all areas.

Churchill was praised for its “broad and ambitious curriculum that prepares students well for their next steps in learning”. The inspectors recognised that the school has high expectations of what its students can achieve, aligning with Churchill Academy & Sixth Form's vision to set no limits on what can be achieved and its purpose to inspire and enable young people to make a positive difference.

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In our January edition of The Beacon we informed you all that a number of schools would be undertaking research with the University of the West of England (UWE) into pupil and parent views on the impacts and benefits of smartphones. Thank you to all those who took part in surveys. UWE are currently looking at the data, and we will see if we can widen this across more LSP schools.

Gordano School introduced a new phone-free policy for students in Years 7 to 11 in June 2025. The initiative, which uses secure magnetic-lock pouches from Yondr, aims to limit the negative impact of mobile phones and social media on young people’s cognitive, emotional, and social development. You can read more about this here.

All of our schools have expectations in place, which means that pupils should not be using smart devices on the school site, and this will continue.

Decisions about smartphones are ultimately ones that belong to parents, but we will update our parents and carers further, in time, regarding this important cultural situation and our position on mobile phone usage by children and young people.

On Thursday 13 February, students from across Lighthouse Schools Partnership joined together at Chew Valley School for this year's LSP Young Leaders Conference. The event saw each of the four secondary schools in the trust send a team of students to present about leadership within their setting. With close to 80 students in attendance, the atmosphere was already building in a positive manner, assisted by fabulous catering from the team at Aspens, who produced some wonderful food for the students on arrival.

Ben Stirling-Turner, Assistant Headteacher at Chew Valley School: “Having been involved in three conferences thus far, it was a privilege to see the work that each school is undertaking around student leadership. In fairness, it is mostly all around the students and their drive, enthusiasm and central positions as role models and inspirational figures that truly display high quality leadership in their schools. It is important to celebrate the impact that young people have within their communities and to celebrate this in the right manner. It was a fantastic afternoon and we are already looking forward to next year’s conference!”

Thank you to all those who contributed to the day, and to Chew Valley School for hosting the successful event! 

On Tuesday 21 January 2025, students from across Lighthouse Schools Partnership came together for our first ever LSP Vocabulary Competition which was held at Churchill Academy.

Students from each of our four secondary schools – Churchill Academy, Gordano School, Backwell School and Chew Valley School got involved in the competition, with entrants ranging from years 7 – 11.

The Vocabulary Competition was designed to test competitor’s abilities to define obscure or unusual words, with each round more increasing in difficulty. 

In March, Gordano School welcomed Sadik Al-Hassan, MP for North Somerset, for an insightful and productive discussion around the transformation needed to support all our young people getting the best start in life.

The conversation focused on the strategic changes required to ensure all SEND pupils receive the support they need to thrive. Key aspects discussed included the enhancement of SEND resources, additional staff training, and improved facilities.

Sadik also took time to meet with Gordano’s SEND team and have a tour of the facilities dedicated to SEND support. He engaged with students from a range of SEND backgrounds, listening to their personal experiences within mainstream education.

At the end of Term 5, Portishead Primary School took their Year 6 to the Williams Formula 1 Team base in Oxfordshire. The day was based in the Williams HQ and started with a morning of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) activities linked to F1 culminating in the children designing, making and testing the most effective nose cone they could for an F1 car. After lunch, the children had a guided tour of the Williams museum, which is full of racing cars and memorabilia, before a session on the e-sport simulators racing around tracks from around the world. 

Mr Capel, Year 6 Teacher at Portishead Primary, reflected on how this trip provided many learning points throughout the day: "This heavily STEM focussed school trip was an amazing experience for the children. Whilst the opportunity to try out racing simulators and look at the vehicles was great fun, they learnt about the importance of, and built skills in, team working. They also had access to professional equipment to test out models they built after learning about aerodynamics. As with many school trips, this opportunity is not something pupils would have had outside of school and it really opened their eyes to careers in engineering or technological fields."

Wraxall CofE Primary School have been celebrating the completion of their new outdoor classroom. The children have been busy gardening using the beautiful plants donated by families in our school community. With the amazing weather and the stunning views, the children have transformed it into the ‘Valley View Café’ and, as part of a pupil enterprise initiative, have begun to hold a café once a week for parents and family members in the school. The breakfast croissants and pancakes with fresh berries were very well-received!

The children have been fantastic ambassadors with their polite attitudes and manners.

Churchill Academy & Sixth Form’s 2025 Academy Music Festival was a massive hit, bringing together students, staff and the upcoming Year 7 students for three unforgettable days of music in the sunshine.

Audiences were treated to an incredible variety of performances, showcasing the talent and hard work of the Academy’s students and staff. From bands and ensembles to solo performances, every act lit up the stage. A special highlight, as always, was the staff band, which proved to be a student favourite once again with the headteacher, Mr Hildrew, rocking the guitar!