News | 28th October 2021

Read our latest Newsletter – Friday 22nd October 2021

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Letters to parents/carers | 18th October 2021

Reminder: Y6 High School Place

Please apply online at www.suffolk.gov.uk/admissions and applications must be submitted before midnight on Sunday 31 October 2021.

If for any reason you are unable to apply online, you should complete the paper application (CAF1) and send this to the Admissions Team by the closing date. You can do this preferably by emailing your application form to admissions@suffolk.gov.uk or by posting it to the Admissions Team, Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich, IP1 2BX (we strongly suggest you get proof of postage if sending by post).

Teaching | 16th October 2021

Religious Education

With religion and beliefs becoming more visible in public life locally, nationally and internationally it’s important that children learn about them and understand them.

Studying these subjects also allows us as a school opportunities to promote an ethos of respect for others, challenge stereotypes and build an understanding of other cultures and beliefs. This in turn contributes to promoting a positive and inclusive ethos at Murrayfield that champions democratic values and human rights.

Religious Education actually has no statutory curriculum, so Paradigm Trust has formed our current curriculum by taking the best parts of the Tower Hamlets syllabus and the Suffolk syllabus (the two authorities which Paradigm schools fall under), combining them in a way which reflects our ethos and values.

We teach RE systematically, so children learn about each of the chosen religions – Christianity, Hinduism, Humanism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism – twice in their primary career. The first time we establish their initial knowledge, then build on what they’ve learnt when we revisit it later.

To ensure the children make progress there is a different focus in each year. For example, Year 2 looks at how and why the religions celebrate festivals, and in Year 5 they will explore what it means to follow a certain religion in Britain today. This way there is no repetition when children revisit the religion and we can keep it fresh and interesting.

We take a ‘whole school’ approach to teaching religion, which means every year group studies the same religion at the same time. This evokes a great sense of community in the whole school; siblings from different year groups can discuss the same issues at home, albeit at different depths. When festivals come around the entire school can take part in the celebrations.

RE is a very artefact-rich subject so we make sure to use items from the religion, such as Bibles, kippahs and patkas, to enhance the children’s learning. We also arrange for external parties from different religions to come in and run workshops, so the children can enjoy a range of experiences as they learn.

We also go out and explore religion in our community by taking a visit to a different place of worship every year. This way they will have experienced a workshop on every religion, and visited every place of worship too by the end of Year 6. RE provokes challenging questions, encouraging pupils to explore their own beliefs, enabling pupils to develop respect and understanding for others and prompting them to consider their rights and responsibilities to society, and helps them understand themselves.

Letters to parents/carers, News | 4th October 2021

World Mental Health Day

On Sunday 10th October, it’s World Mental Health Day, and we are marking this day on Friday 8th October by wearing our mostcolourfult-shirts or jumpers

It’s that time of the year again when we make a special effort to remind ourselves of the importance of our mental health. We all have physical health and we all have mental health. Just because you can’t see how we feel on the inside, it doesn’t mean it is not important. At Paradigm Trust, we understand the importance of looking after ourselves both on the outside AND on the inside.


Whether you are a pupil, parent or staff member, we all need to get involved and turn our schools into a colourful jungle!

Governance, Letters to parents/carers | 22nd September 2021

Academy Council meeting: Thursday 23 September

Everyone is welcome to attend the next Academy Council Meeting. Details as follows:


Thursday, 23 September · 9:30 – 10:30am
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/owr-bqxr-hzb 

Teaching | 16th September 2021

Expert in Languages

By focusing on mastering the basics of foreign languages we are giving our pupils the foundation they need to succeed in the future.

While learning foreign languages is often seen as something for secondary school pupils we, and the other Paradigm primary schools, have a keen focus on teaching languages to children long before they get to Year 7.

We have chosen to teach French at Murrayfield as this is the language which is studied at Ipswich Academy, the secondary school which the majority of our students will join when they leave us. By giving our pupils this strong foundation, they have a greater chance of succeeding with the language and achieving better grades.

When teaching French we use examples not just from France but other French speaking countries too, such as Canada and Senegal. We are not just teaching a foreign language but also helping our pupils learn about different peoples and their cultures.

The ability to speak a modern foreign language and understand different cultures is more beneficial now than it has been for a generation. Recent events mean that as a nation we will be trading directly with more countries than before, and the ability to communicate effectively, and understand the culture, will be invaluable.

The demand for foreign language speakers isn’t restricted to the business and trade sectors either. Many organisations, such as the NHS and the police, require employees with linguistic skills, as do private companies in a range of industries.

And because bilingual and multilingual people are scarce in this country, wages for positions which require these skills are higher. A recent study by Preply found that people with Arabic as a second language can earn as much as 74% extra, compared to the average UK salary, with Mandarin increasing wages by 45%, and French by 34%.

While it is impossible to teach every language, studies have proven once someone has learned one foreign language, they can pick up further languages more quickly. Learning another foreign language also develops a range of transferable skills, such as communication and presentation abilities. It also builds understanding and appreciation of other cultures, which are really important qualities in today’s society, and when dealing with other nations.  By focusing on what works, we are ensuring our pupils are making great progress in foreign languages and will be able to take full advantage of the opportunities arising for foreign language speakers.

News | 20th July 2021

September re-opening Information

Teaching | 15th July 2021

How we build Cultural Capital for our children – and why it helps

Our pioneering Hinterland programme is providing cultural capital for Murrayfield’s pupils so they can enjoy a richer life experience and improve their learning.

Cultural capital has existed as a phrase and a concept for decades, but was introduced by Ofsted into its framework in September 2019. They describe it as “the knowledge and cultural capital children need to succeed in life.” which dovetails smoothly with work we have been doing in this area for years.

The amount of cultural capital a child has can impact how much they get from their lessons at school. Due to differing circumstances and backgrounds, children inevitably come to the classroom with a range of different life experiences. For instance, some pupils may have been to the seaside, while others will never have visited the coast. If then, in an English lesson, the class reads a story set by the sea such as The Lighthouse Keeper’s Cat, everyone can understand it and answer questions on it to some extent, but the children who have actually been to the coast are able to relate far more readily and enjoy a richer experience than those who haven’t. 

We are committed to levelling this playing field, ensuring all pupils have access to high quality experiences. We do this through Paradigm’s Hinterland programme, which it has designed not only to increase cultural capital in its pupils, but academic capital (the knowledge which supports new learning) and character capital (the knowledge which lets you engage with the world). 

It’s a curriculum of thought-through systematic experiences which we expect every child from Early Years to the end of Y11 to benefit from. These include going to the seaside, the zoo, having a picnic, residential trips, museum trips, visiting backstage at a theatre, taking part in plays and other activities which prove beneficial to children’s learning. The activity is then brought back to the classroom and the teachers spend a lot of time unpacking and exploring it to ensure maximum value is drawn out of every experience. 

By running the Hinterland programme we, and the other Paradigm schools, are working hard to ensure no child is disadvantaged in their education. In this way, we are able to broaden children’s life experiences and help prepare them for future study, employment and, most importantly, leading a fulfilling life.

News | 7th July 2021

Read our Summer Newsletter

Letters to parents/carers, News | 1st July 2021

Claire Willis appointed permanent Principal

Last updated July 1, 2021