The criticised "change" of name from "school" to "A place for learning" was reported with varying degrees of inaccuracy as being an early decision when the new school was formed as a merge between three former primary schools: Shirecliffe, Busk Meadow and Watermead infant and junior schools, at a cost of £4.7 million. Linda Kingdon, the head teacher said: "This is Watercliffe Meadow, a place for learning. One reason was many of the parents of the children here had very negative connotations of school. Instead, we want this to be a place for family learning, where anyone can come. We were able to start from scratch and create a new type of learning experience. There are no whistles or bells or locked doors. We wanted to deinstitutionalise the place and bring the school closer to real life."
