Bewick Bridge Community Primary School - Formerly Cherry Hinton Junior School

The name chosen for Cherry Hinton Community Junior School when it became an all-through primary school was Bewick Bridge Community Primary School.

Why did we change the name? 

When the decision was made that both Cherry Hinton Junior school and its feeder school, Cherry Hinton Infant school were to become primary schools it became clear that both could not keep their name. The Infant school decided to keep its original name thus giving us the opportunity and impetus to change our name as we changed our status.

Why did we choose this name? 

The new name tells a story - one which weaves together education, the role of the school in the community, and the history of Cherry Hinton.

The school is named after Revd. Bewick Bridge, who was vicar of St Andrews parish in Cherry Hinton for 17 years from 1816-1833; he founded the very first school in the village in 1832, the year before he died. He also built the vicarage at the end of Fulbourn Old Drift, the road on which our present school stands. Bewick Bridge was a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and author of a famous Algebra text book. In 1812 he was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society.

The concept of a bridge also illustrates something of our values and vision as a community school: a place where many bridges are built; bridges between pupils at the school from a variety of backgrounds, nationalities and cultures, between older children and younger ones, between the different generations, between staff, parents and volunteers, and bridges between different families in the neighbourhood. All these bridges help relationships to grow and flourish, characterised by acceptance, trust and respect.

The school also creates a bridge for the children to the wider world - all they learn here brings that world a bit nearer to their understanding and grasp. It is a bridge that connects the children with their own future and destiny too - helping them to discover and develop their talents, abilities and skills.

An African proverb states, "It takes a whole village to educate a child." Bewick Bridge Community Primary School will look to build bridges and create opportunities for many people in Cherry Hinton and further afield to participate in the education and development of our children.

How did we reach this decision? 

It was not easy. The children were given the task of investigating the history and geography of the area, thinking of all that was good about their school and producing a list of names for the governing body to choose from. They produced a list of 72 potential names – and the final decision of the governing body had to be unanimous!

Some names were quickly discarded because they could be confused with those of other local schools. Some were put to one side with a degree of regret. The governing body was delighted by suggestions such as 'Fizzy Pop School' because the school was so exciting and 'The Haven' because one little boy saw it as just that, but we decided that these extremes didn't cover the spectrum of experiences in the school.

So we chose Bewick Bridge because it brought together the history and geography of the area, an emphasis on scholarship and the bridging theme which sits so well with the school's aims and values.

(Source. Bewick Bridge Wikipedia Archive - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bewick_Bridge)