Newly-amalgamated schools will come under a single name from September.
 
Murray’s Road Junior School and its feeder infants’ school Ballaquayle will be known as Scoill yn Jubilee (Jubilee School) – a name selected to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen.
 
The schools came under a single headteacher, Linda Green, in February, and staff have been preparing for amalgamation since.
 
This involves combining the schools’ finances, administration, classroom organisation, lesson delivery, diaries and daily routines, Mrs Green explained, as well as developing a single ethos and rewards system.
 
While staff have been undergoing joint training, children have been getting to know each other on visits to each other’s schools and came together at Ballaquayle for a jubilee picnic, fun and games, which was a great success. The schools took part, as one, in this month’s Children in Song concert at the Villa Marina and Celebration of Skipping at the NSC.
 
Robyn Duke, 10, who is in Year 5 at Murray’s Road, won a competition among pupils to design a logo for the school that reflected not just the new name but the school’s ‘Manxness’.
 
Classes voted for their best designs to go forward for judging and Robyn’s design was chosen as the winner by Raina Chatel, a governor of both schools for many years, when she visited the jubilee celebrations.
 
‘The logo will be used on our new school uniform, which governors from both schools have decided on, and will also be part of our letter heading,’ explained Mrs Green.
 
Both Murray’s Road, which dates back to 1899, and Ballaquayle, 1971, took their names from the areas in which they were built.
 
The amalgamation under a single name was advertised to the public in February, as is required under the 2001 Education Act. It will be laid before Tynwald when it sits in July.

Photo caption - Robyn Dukes' winning design, chosen to be the new logo for Scoill yn Jubilee.