Merrydale Infant School

Overview

Merrydale Infant School is described as a “welcoming and friendly school” where pupils are “really happy” and feel safe. The report highlights a “coherent curriculum” that begins in the early years, with staff acting as “great role models” who show care for every pupil. Leaders are “determined to improve the school further,” having worked with “determination to make rigorous improvements” that have taken place “rapidly.”

Strengths

• Pupils demonstrate “beautiful” manners and act “kindly towards others,” creating a positive atmosphere where they “politely hold doors open for each other.”
• The curriculum is “full of talk and the learning of new words,” with a strong focus on reading where children “love practising their phonics.”
• Early years provision is effective, with children getting a “flying start” and developing as “curious, happy, confident learners.”
• The school prioritises inclusivity, with “respect and acceptance of difference” at its heart, ensuring pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities get what they need to learn well.
• Pastoral support is a “real strength,” with the school going “over and above to ensure pupils and their families receive support when needed.”

Areas to improve

• In some subjects, pupils are not given sufficient opportunities to revisit key knowledge, meaning they sometimes start new concepts when “previous knowledge is not secure.”
• Recent curriculum changes in some subjects are still new, so it is “too soon to see the full impact on pupils knowing and remembering more.”
• “Too many pupils are regularly absent from school for lengthy periods of time,” causing them to miss out on “vital learning.”

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”