Joseph Hood Primary School is a very successful school at the heart of the community. We pride ourselves on being an inclusive school, and our communities of pupils and families include a great variety of languages, cultures, and backgrounds.

In September 2024, Joseph Hood formed a partnership with another local school, Hatfeild Primary School, and together they established The Cherrywood Federation. The Federation was formed after two years of both schools successfully working together under the leadership of our Executive Headteacher, Anita Saville.

Both schools are Merton community schools that share a similar ethos and values, with staff benefitting from joint training and opportunities to work more collegiately. Both schools are graded ‘Good’ by Ofsted: Hatfeild was graded good in all areas in their inspection in January 2025, and Joseph Hood was graded good overall in their inspection in January 2022.

What makes Joseph Hood special?

We place children at the heart of everything we do.
We value and respect each child and the qualities they bring. We set high expectations of our children academically and socially, celebrating successes – however big or small.

We teach an inclusive, knowledge- and skills-rich curriculum
Our curriculum exposes children to ambitious content that is highly specified and well-sequenced. A knowledge- and skills-rich curriculum ensures that every learning opportunity supports children in acquiring the knowledge, skills, and cultural capital they need to become well-educated, responsible citizens of the future.

We create a safe, secure, and welcoming environment,
Offering a wide breadth of learning experiences, including off-site visits and extra-curricular activities that enable each child to develop their talents and abilities to the full.

We provide off-site visits every term.
Examples include trips to the British Museum, Wimbledon BookFest, Morden Hall Park, Fishbourne Roman Palace, Kew Gardens, the Science Museum, the Imperial War Museum, Polka Theatre, and the London Aquarium.

In addition, we take our Year 6 and Year 4 children on residential trips to PGL, the Isle of Wight, and Stubbington Study Centre.

Each year group also visits a place of worship to develop our children’s understanding of different faiths — for example, St James’ Church, the Buddhist Temple in Wimbledon, a Hindu Temple, a Sikh Gurdwara, and Morden Mosque.

We also welcome many visitors to school to enhance our curriculum, including a visiting farm, our annual pantomime, and a Viking workshop.

Pupil voice is important to the running of the school.
Children can take on one of many leadership roles at Joseph Hood, including:

• Eco Champion
• Wellbeing Team
• Reading Ambassadors
• Sports Leaders
• Rights Respecting Team
• House Captains

PE and sport are highly valued and celebrated at Joseph Hood.

We are a member of the Merton School Sports Partnership (MSSP) and have been awarded a Gold Sports Mark in recognition of our sports provision.

Coaches from MSSP work alongside class teachers to deliver PE lessons in gymnastics, cricket, dance, and more. We participate in a variety of competitions, including football, tennis, athletics, gymnastics, dance, boccia, and multi-sports.

Music is a key part of our curriculum.
Children have the opportunity to learn musical instruments during the school day from Merton Music Foundation (MMF) teachers, including guitar, piano, and drums.

We also offer music lessons through Rocksteady, where parents can sign up their children for weekly band sessions.

Each class has a weekly music lesson covering singing, listening, composing (including improvisation), and performing.

In Year 4, all pupils learn an instrument with an MMF teacher – this year, they learned the guitar.

Children have opportunities to perform in various concerts, such as our Christmas and end-of-year music concerts, Rocksteady concerts, and MMF concerts at the Royal Albert Hall. We also expose children to professional performances, including the annual pantomime and the “Blues & Roots” concert at Wimbledon Theatre.

We are fortunate to have high levels of parental engagement.
We strongly believe that the strong partnership between parents and school is a key factor in the success of both our school and our children.

Our Parents, Teachers, and Friends Association (PTFA) organises a range of community events throughout the year and plays an invaluable role in fundraising.

We provide both breakfast and after-school care for children from Reception to Year 6.

This is provided in-house by our own staff. We currently have provision for 50 children in our breakfast club and 80 in our after-school club.

Breakfast club opens at 7.45 am, and after-school care runs until 6.00 pm. Children say they enjoy playing with friends, the wide range of activities on offer, and the tea served at 4.30 pm.

 

At the end of their primary school journey, our children continue their education at a range of secondary schools, both within Merton and in neighbouring local authorities.

Schools children have transferred to include:
Rutlish High School, Ricards Lodge High School, Raynes Park High School, Ursuline, Wimbledon College, Tiffin School for Boys, Tiffin Girls' School, King's College School, Harris Academy Wimbledon, Glenthorne High School, Coombe Boys’ School, Coombe Girls’ School, Carshalton Girls’ High School, Wimbledon High School, and St Cecilia's.

We look forward to welcoming you and your family