Merrydale Infant School
One school, many strengths
At Merrydale Infant school we provide a curriculum that motivates and engages our children. We help children develop independence and creativity while they explore new ideas and concepts and have fun! We are proud of the inclusive nature of our school, and ensure that all pupils are given opportunities that are appropriate and tailored to meet their individual learning needs. Our curriculum complies with our duties in the Equality Act 2010 and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations by ensuring our curriculum is accessible for those with disabilities or special educational needs. Please see the schools:
Literacy is at the heart of our curriculum through the development of language and communication skills that help children to become effective communicators verbally and in writing. We recognise that oracy is the foundation for success in literacy, particularly at our school, where many pupils have English as an additional language. Our literacy curriculum is delivered through the teaching of synthetic phonics and good quality texts, so that our children develop a love of books and can use what they read to help them write for themselves. From the Autumn term 2022 ( Aug 2022) our school is using the Read Write Inc phonics scheme having moved away from our previous Phonics scheme .Wherever possible, children are asked to write for real purposes. Oracy, reading and writing skills are used to support the learning experiences that children have in every curriculum area.
In the Early Years our children take part in a wide range of activities, both indoors and outdoors. Each area of learning and development is implemented through planned, purposeful play. At Merrydale we strongly believe that children in the Foundation Stage learn best through first-hand experience and play activities. To our children, play is their ‟work” and we value it as such. Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others. Not only do our children have access to their own classroom, for most of the day they will also have access to the outside classroom. For much of the day our children will be able to choose where they would like their learning to take place.
In Key Stage 1 half termly topics are designed to help children link their understanding in different curriculum areas so that their thoughts and experiences are as cohesive as possible. The learning is practical, expressive, creative, investigative and knowledge rich, whilst enabling children to work collaboratively or individually. We provide carefully planned opportunities for children to problem solve and explore their own investigations. We also encourage children to work collaboratively so that they learn the important skills involved in teamwork.
We strongly believe that children need to develop social and emotional skills and resilience, to participate fully in society. It is our awareness of this need, which has led to the broad, experiential form of curriculum organisation that we have adopted, and to the inclusion of an extensive Personal, Social and Health Education programme.
Our parents and school community can contact the school office where they will be signposted to a member of the school team to find out more about our broad and balanced curriculum.