Local residents will soon start to see some changes happening in our local Merrow schools. Merrow Infants C of E School and Bushy Hill Junior School recently federated to become the Merrow Schools Federation.

Executive Head Teacher, Louisa Dormer explains, “The two schools have always worked closely together. By strengthening the collaboration through the formal process of a Federation, the children, staff and families associated with both schools will experience a greater range of opportunities.”

Some of these opportunities include:

• A consistent approach to curriculum provision, to enhance the learning experience from Reception to Year 6;
• A smooth transition for our children as they move from Infants to Juniors;
• Shared best practice and expertise, to ensure consistently high standards;
• A strong leadership structure, to navigate challenging times in the education sector;
• Stronger purchasing power, to enable both schools to realise economies of scale.

The two schools within Merrow Schools Federation now share an executive headteacher, a leadership team and a Governing Body. The governors believe that the learning experience and achievement of children at both schools will be improved through the Federation.

“It’s the best of both worlds,” says parent Katie. “My Year 6 child loves being involved in the Infant School – she recently helped out with sports coaching for the little ones. And the Infant School is such a lovely, nurturing environment for smaller children but gets to access all the brilliant facilities at the Junior School.”

As part of the changes, Bushy Hill Junior School will soon change its name to Merrow Junior School and uniform changes will be phased in over the coming couple of years.

“We’re completing this exercise whilst being very conscious of the current economic climate.” said David Wright, Chair of Governors. “So all rebranding will be slowly transitioned to make sure we’re not wasteful of the school’s resources or too taxing on our families’ budgets.”

The Federation is organising its first joint Summer Fair, scheduled to take place on 23rd June at the Junior School in Sheeplands Avenue and invites local residents to come and join in an evening of fun for all the family. There will be food and drink, games, raffles and tombolas as well as bouncy castles and face painting!

Entrance is free and all proceeds will go towards the schools!

This is a very exciting time for our schools and we look forward to sharing our successes in the future.