LYDLYNCH Infant School in Totton has reason to celebrate – it has just joined forces with its sister infant school Hazel Wood in a move that is hoped will strengthen both schools after an eight month consultation period. 

Sharing both a governing body and an executive head teacher – Cathy Davies – the two schools’ federation means they will be able to share resources and expertise, and staff will enjoy a wider range of career progression. 

Head of school Nicky King has been at the school since September 2015. At Lydlynch she is the first point of contact for parents wanting to talk.

She said: “Federation is great because it means we can work together with Hazel Wood. We can work strategically to think about a collective vision for both the schools and we have similar experiences.”

The schools share events such as sports days and teddy bear picnics, meaning that the pupils get to know each other well before many of them go off to junior school together at Abbotsood. 

They are encouraged under the school’s ethos of ‘working together to achieve our best’ to work hard and the school’s mission is that it is a ‘happy, stimulating inspiring learning environment underpinned by four cornerstones of learning: confidence, persistence, organisation, and getting along.’

Ms King said: “We’re a really warm and welcoming school. The children are really happy we’re proud of all of them. We have lovely spacious classrooms and an inspiring learning environment.”

Reading mornings are one example of how the school encourages parents to get more involved with learning. Ms King said: “It’s to promote the level of reading and gets the parents involved as well.

“We also have a celebration day for parents and families where we invite them in at the end of every half term when the children have finished their topics. We display their work. In a recent healthy eating topic parents came in and made healthy wraps with the kids.”

Year two pupils are currently learning about the Titanic and will go to Sea City Museum this week. Year one’s current topic – Ready Set Go – focuses on sports and the Olympics and reception are learning about ‘S for Summer and Seaside.’

The active home school association is run by volunteers and aims to raise funds for things the school budget cannot provide, as well as for charities like Macmillan cancer. 

The annual Summer Fayre was held on June 25 from 12 - 3 in the school grounds when proceeds raised went towards swimming lessons for the children and buying extra lunchtime equipment.

Although Ofsted graded the school as ‘satisfactory’ in 2009 their last report in 2012 was ‘good’ in all four areas. 

Inspectors praised leadership for the school having ‘improved markedly’ at all levels and ‘the hard work and commitment of staff and members of the governing body.’

From the Head, Nicky King:

IT IS a very exciting time for both Lydlynch Infant School and Hazel Wood Infant School to be working together as a federation to benefit our children educationally, both now and in the future.

Hazel Wood and Lydynch are two infant schools that play a pivotal role in our local community in Totton. The federation will give us the opportunity to focus on providing outstanding pastoral care and educational outcomes to benefit all our children.

We are totally committed to ensuring that the arrangement at Hazel Wood and Lydlynch is a success in its aspiration to provide a happy, vibrant and effective educational community for all. Our staff have many years experience working locally and have always believed that partnership with other schools is vital and brings positive benefits to everyone involved. 

We believe that there will be enhanced learning opportunities for all our children, access to a wider range of facilities and shared resources. The federation will also enable us to attract and retain high quality staff and leadership and to sustain and continually improve our high quality teaching and learning.