Moorlands Junior School

This statement has been provided by the governing body of Moorlands Junior School in response to Trafford Council's proposal to amalgamate the separate infant and junior schools. 

Governing body statement

The governing body of Moorlands Junior School would like to enter the following statement regarding the possible merger of the two schools which has arisen due to the authority’s presumption to amalgamate policy which is followed on the notification that the Headteacher of an Infant or Junior school is leaving their post. 

The establishing of separate Infant and Junior schools is rare today as educational policy and practice considers primary issues rather than separate infant and junior concerns - the curriculum builds each year based on the stepping stones from the previous year and towards an end of key stage 2 external testing goal. There would therefore be no sensible rationale to create two separate entities today. 

In our discussions of the pros and cons of this consultation we have considered the important issues that would be addressed by a merger: 

• unified standards of assessment and monitoring. 
• clarity of a common behaviour policy
• assist young people to avoid an unnecessary additional transition from one school to another, which has never been anything but problematic for children at any stage.
• offer an increased set of professional development opportunities to staff as a result of increased scales
• create a strong unified school for the students and community of the area
• get the best practice from both schools to create a superb school for all young people from early years foundation stage (EYFS) up to the end of key stage 2.
• increased scale would give specific additional resources and support for those student with additional needs

We passionately feel the merger process should be based on a clear vision and set of values that:

• places the best interests of all students at the centre of what we all do.
• creates a safe, secure and consistent place of learning for all of the community's children.
• creates a strong and effective place for all staff to deepen their skills, share their expertise and build a school that would be increasingly sought out as an employer of first choice.

To this endeavour we feel that a unified identity would signify the creation of a new school from the merger of both Templemoor and Moorlands; we therefore suggested that a new name, Sale Moor Primary School would mark this. 

What will Sale Moor Primary School look like to parents and children?

• Outward facing school continuing to build on the strong links that have already been forged with local and wider schools.
• Established and experienced Senior Leadership Team with the joining together of the two existing teams at each school.
• One uniform - less expense for parents.
• A Values Led and Rights Respecting School- built from a bespoke package which combines the good practice already in place in both schools.
• A unified SEN team which can provide continuous support and seek external agency interventions as early as possible to support all children to achieve to their best ability.
• A unified communications strategy across both schools which will provide parents with:
  • One point of contact via email or telephone
  • One payment system
  • One website
  • The new school will bring together the expertise and knowledge of both staff teams to ensure the very best opportunities are provided for all of our children
  • A continuation of the already excellent before and after school provision provided by X-Club and an enhanced offer of extra-curricular activities currently provided by Moorlands which will be extended to key stage 1 pupils
  • An enhanced wellbeing offer for children across the whole school
  • Economies of scale so that any savings can be redirected to resources for the children.

The governors are convinced that we have the perfect opportunity to unite students from two brilliant schools and secure professional excellence for two sets of well-respected bodies of staff. To reiterate this should not and has never been an exercise to reduce staffing. If anything, it will offer greater potential for sharing of expertise and increased professional development and as such should be welcomed by everyone. 

As governors, we simply want to extend our views that we have the potential to benefit many young people and dedicated staff members. We want true partnership as such we want our community to have the opportunity to consider the options now available under Trafford’s presumption to amalgamate separate infant and junior schools. 

Change can be a worry, but we hope that our families can see why these changes are beneficial to all and that this should be understood as an exciting opportunity, one that we will look back on with great pride illustrating how we worked together to create the best opportunities for every child.

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