HASELBURY AND MERRIOTT FIRST SCHOOLS FEDERATION

The Governors of Merriott First School and Haselbury Plucknett First School voted to Federate during summer 2017 and a new joint governing body across both schools was formed. Our staff team is led by Federation Executive Headteacher, Anne Higginbotham and Federation Deputy Headteacher, Lois Bowery. All our teaching staff are qualified and ably supported by a well-trained team of Higher Level Teaching Assistants and Teaching Assistants.

Whilst maintaining the ethos and distinctiveness of each school, the Federation will allow the efficient sharing of expertise and systems to improve outcomes for all pupils across both schools. These include:

• Giving our children greater opportunities to learn together with other first school pupils from a neighbouring village
• Teachers being able to collaborate closely to share good practice and expertise with the purpose of improving teaching further in both schools
• Sharing of staff development and training opportunities in order that the schools continue to improve in the key areas such as Mathematics and English teaching
• Sharing resources so that budgets can go further and can be focused on pupil learning

Our close working relationships with other local schools in Crewkerne and Ilminster, known as the CISP group, continues to flourish and further enhance the education experience we can offer. These include teachers across all these schools working close together to improve outcomes for all our children and improve transition between the different parts of our local education structure.