Wellhouse Junior and Infant School The Federation

The Federation

We are proud to be part of the newly formed Federation of Clough Head Junior and Infant School and Wellhouse Junior and Infant School. We are the first small schools Federation in Kirklees. The two schools are approximately one mile apart and so it is relatively easy to plan visits between the school sites.

The benefits of federating are already evident and we are working closely together with Clough Head School to provide extended learning opportunities and events. As two small schools, with relatively small budgets, we are now able to ‘pool’ resources effectively to provide more educational experiences, including visits, residentials and visitors into school. We have already held some joint events, including a fantastic Spots Activity Day at The Zone in Huddersfield, two Church Services for Harvest and Christmas at Bolster Moor Baptist Church and a noisy, fun-filled Christmas Disco!

In terms of learning opportunities, the benefits of federating are endless. As small schools we have only a few children in each year group and have mixed-age classes. Through federating we can provide opportunities for year groups from each school to learn together and for pupils to work alongside each other in their peer groups. We are also planning shared curriculum initiatives, for example, a joint Science Week, whereby the pupils will move between the two school sites and work in different groupings on year group-specific activities.

The Federation also allows us to draw upon the expertise and good practice in each school and allows staff to work together to develop skills, knowledge and teaching provision.

We are delighted with the success of the federation already and we feel sure that given time, we will begin to find that the extended opportunities we can now offer will impact positively upon standards and pupil achievement.