Head Teachers Welcome

Welcome to Marjorie McClure School, a school where we believe that learning is an adventure, one filled with inspirational, creative opportunities and a variety of experiences to enable every individual to grow and become their best self. 

Marjorie McClure is an outstanding foundation special school for students with complex medical needs and physical disabilities. We cater for students from 4-19 years old. All students must have an EHCP in place to attend.

I have been Head Teacher at Marjorie McClure since September 2019, and it is a great privilege and pleasure to work with such amazing students, families and staff. Our school really is a family, and we endeavour to support our broader community.

At Marjorie McClure we value the broad scope of learning and achievement, with a personalised curriculum richly embedded with aspects of development in communication, independence, life skills and social skills as well as the traditional academic areas. We celebrate every step of achievement and recognise the significance of small steps.

We embrace a multi-agency approach and work closely with the nursing team, speech and language therapists, occupational therapist and physiotherapists that are based here at Marjorie. We have an exceptional team of teachers, advanced skills assistants, teaching assistants and health care assistants who are highly specialised, offering highly specialised education and care.

Last year was a momentous one for Marjorie McClure School as in April 2023, we moved into a fantastic new purpose-built site. The new facilities have been specially designed to meet the needs of our students and include a wheelchair friendly outside play area, a sensory room, an immersive room, soft play room and rebound therapy room.  In May we were the very lucky recipients of a Chelsea Flower Show garden which takes pride of place. This year we are celebrating our Golden Anniversary as it is 50 years since the opening of Marjorie McClure School and we are very excited to be joining the Nest Academy Trust.

Rebecca Cottage

Head Teacher

Paula Farrow - NEST CEO - Welcome

Dear Staff, Parents and Carers,

We are delighted to announce that Marjorie McClure School, has officially joined the family of Nexus Education Schools Trust group of schools, as of the 1st September 2024.

At NEST, we value exceptional and distinctive learning communities, and the diversity and ethos of each school. Each school, its leaders and staff bring something to the wider organisation and enable our schools to be supported by knowledgeable and talented people, who are committed to providing an inclusive diverse and engaging curriculum for each child. Marjorie McClure joins our adventurous and innovative schools, who collaborate in a range of creative curriculum events such as musical, drama and sporting occasions to give the children in each school the opportunity to feel part of the larger family of NEST schools.

NEST also incorporates Thames South Teaching School Hub, specialising in career development for support staff and teachers. The Trust is also fortunate to include specialist ASD (Autism) provision and has also recently opened its first NEST Nursery. NEST is an outward looking Trust, working in partnership with other Multi Academy Trusts, schools, and Local Authorities, further developing our offer to pupils, staff, and communities.

All NEST schools are committed to and have a proven track record of rigorous school improvement; where Headteachers and other leaders work together to share best practice and learn from one another as well as from other external networks and partnerships.

Our twenty schools across four local authorities are all different and aim to serve their local communities.

The Trust is ambitious for its schools and communities and, values the importance of having talented staff members within the Trust. In working together and contributing both expertise and innovative ideas, staff will enjoy opportunities to flourish professionally in our schools, supporting NEST’s growth and development.

NEST keeps students and pupils at the centre of all that it does - it is for their future, their education, and their achievements that this organisation will continue to be motivated to drive our work in years to come.

We are all looking forward to the exciting journey ahead.

Kind Regards

Paula Farrow OBE

CEO Nexus Education Schools Trust

Chair of Governors Welcome

I think that the greatest privilege of being Chair at Marjorie McClure School is being able to see the school in operation during a normal school day. The huge energy that fills the building as the amazing staff work with our students every day, making their learning journey exciting and moulded to the abilities of each and every child. Since becoming involved with the school, we have had to cope with the complexities of the Pandemic and how to maintain a mixture of on campus and remote learning. I have huge admiration for the staff across the whole school in the way that they coped with this and in some ways I think that this has made the school more resilient.

Rebecca Cottage and the rest of the Senior Leadership Team have made many changes to the curriculum and also to the communication, both within the school and with families, making it much easier for staff and families to follow the progress of each student throughout their journey through the school.
 

As Rebecca has said, we are looking forward to moving into our new site in early 2023 and this will be such an improvement to our facilities and will be felt by everyone that comes into the school. On behalf of everyone on the Board of Governors, thank you for taking the time to look through our website and hope that it gives a good insight into what we have to offer

Andrew Stammers

Chair of Governors