The Bridge Short Stay School
The Bridge Short Stay School is a pupil referral unit in Ellesmere Port for boys and girls aged 7 to 16. It has 59 pupils, 9 more than it has places for. About 73 in every 100 pupils come from a low-income family, far more than at most schools in England. Ofsted's last grade was good, back in 2024.
Appleton Drive, Ellesmere Port, CH65 7EP0151 245 3877thebridge.cheshire.sch.ukMr Andrew Stewart acting headteacherAll details
What Ofsted found
A shorter visit on 24 May 2024 found nothing to change the school's grade. Read the report on Ofsted's website.
Good overall. A shorter follow-up visit found nothing to change that. The last full inspection was before September 2019, which is as far back as Ofsted's public records go, so we can't show its date or the grades for each area.
Getting a place
Admissions policy not published.
Each council publishes its own figures on how many families applied and how far away the last child to get a place lived. We are adding councils one at a time. If you have a link to Cheshire West and Chester council's admissions booklet, send it to us.
Who goes here
Who the school teaches, from the latest school census.
The most common needs among pupils getting extra support: emotional and mental health (42), Moderate learning difficulty (4), Specific learning difficulty (4), language and communications needs (3), Other difficulty or disability (2), SEN support but no specialist assessment of type of need (2).
How the mix of pupils has changed
| Census | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pupils on roll | 59 | 59 | 58 | 52 | 41 | 32 |
| Pupils from low-income familiesFree school meals | 73% | 68% | 74% | 60% | 56% | 50% |
| Pupils learning EnglishEnglish as an additional language | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Pupils getting extra supportSEN support | – | 86% | 85% | 89% | 56% | 63% |
| Pupils with an EHC planEducation, health and care plans | – | 14% | 16% | 8% | 20% | 9% |
What pupils do next
After GCSEs
Where the 20 pupils who left in 2022/23 were a year later.
Earlier years
| Destination | 2022/23 leavers | 2021/22 leavers | 2020/21 leavers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Still in education, work or training | 20% | 29% | 53% |
| Education | 20% | 10% | 21% |
| Apprenticeship | 0% | 0% | 11% |
| Work | 0% | 19% | 21% |
| Not in education, work or training | 45% | 38% | 37% |
Staff and money
From the government's count of school staff in November 2025 and the school's published accounts.
Money
From the council school accounts, year to March 2025. The per-pupil figures are compared with other primary schools in England that report their accounts the same way.
Reserves are the money left over at the end of the year, kept back for emergencies and big projects. Being in the red year after year is a warning sign. Very large reserves can mean money sitting in the bank instead of being spent on today's pupils. Academy figures are rounded to the nearest £1,000 and include a share of any money the trust holds centrally.
The area around the school
Crime figures come from police.uk. The police record each crime at the nearest of a fixed set of map points rather than the exact spot, so “within 500 m” is only rough. House prices are from HM Land Registry sales nearby over the last two years.
Nearby schools
The closest schools, nearest first. Hover over a row to see it on the map.
| School | Type | Distance | Pupils | Ofsted | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ellesmere Port Catholic High School, a Voluntary Academy | Academy | 230 m | 950 | Report card 2026 | 11 | Compare |
| Hinderton School | Council | 260 m | 62 | Outstanding 2023 | – | Compare |
| Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School | Roman Catholic | 300 m | 290 | Good 2022 | 41 | Compare |
| St Saviour's Catholic Primary and Nursery School | Roman Catholic | 660 m | 213 | No overall grade 2024 | 73 | Compare |
| Brookside Primary School | Council | 680 m | 184 | Good 2023 | 20 | Compare |
| Whitby Heath Primary School | Council | 810 m | 406 | No overall grade 2025 | 58 | Compare |
| Meadow Primary School | Academy | 870 m | 419 | Report card 2025 | 89 | Compare |
| Woodlands Primary School | Council | 910 m | 533 | Good 2023 | 17 | Compare |
Questions parents ask
Is The Bridge Short Stay School a good school?
The Bridge Short Stay School doesn't have a score yet. Ofsted rated it good at its last inspection in May 2024.
What is The Bridge Short Stay School's Ofsted rating?
Ofsted rated The Bridge Short Stay School good at its last full inspection on 24 May 2024.
How many pupils does The Bridge Short Stay School have?
59 pupils aged 7 to 16 were on the roll in January 2026. It has 50 places, so it is 118% full.
These answers come straight from the figures on this page and update when new data comes out.
Contact and details
- Address
- Appleton Drive, Ellesmere Port, CH65 7EP
- Telephone
- 0151 245 3877
- Website
- www.thebridge.cheshire.sch.uk
- Acting Headteacher
- Mr Andrew Stewart
- Type of school
- Pupil referral unit (Pupil referral unit, local authority maintained schools)
- Phase
- Pupil referral unit / alternative provision, ages 7-16
- Gender
- Mixed
- Local authority
- Cheshire West and Chester
- Ward
- Whitby Park
- Constituency
- Ellesmere Port and Bromborough
- Setting
- Urban: Nearer to a major town or city
- Opened
- 31 August 2012 (new provision)
- URN
- 138450 · LAESTAB 8961100 · UKPRN 10044685
Where these figures come from
- School details: Department for Education, Get Information About Schools, refreshed daily (this page rebuilt 13 September 2026).
- Inspections: Ofsted management information, monthly; latest publication in our data 27 August 2026.
- Pupil characteristics: DfE school census, January 2026.
- Staff: DfE school workforce census, November 2025.
- Pupil premium: DfE allocations and conditions of grant, 2026 to 2027.
- Money: DfE financial benchmarking and insights tool, consistent financial reporting 2024/25.
- Neighbourhood: police.uk street-level crime, HM Land Registry price paid data, NaPTAN bus stops, English Indices of Deprivation 2025.
- All under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Full list and update calendar.