School Building Works update

School Building Works
Building works to enable the school expansion are progressing well and are on target to be finished in the summer holidays.  The new teaching block will contain ten new classrooms (one Science lab, three ICT suites and a standard classroom on the first floor; with five classrooms to house History, Government & Politics on the ground floor).  We take possession of the first floor at May half term when History will temporarily move to the first floor while works to the ground floor and the landscaping are completed.  The History portacabins will then be lifted out at half term so that works can be started to create an internal courtyard in the area they occupy. 

The History, Government & Politics department will move to their permanent home on the ground floor over the Summer break; with ICT moving into the first floor.  In addition, there are some internal refurbishments to create a new classroom for PE theory, two toilets blocks and a staff work room.  All the works will be complete in time for September 2021 when our expanded Year 7 cohort join us for the first time.  Pupils will numbers will grow by 30 per year as the new Year 7 works its way up through the school.  To ensure we have sufficient dining space, an extension to the Refectory is planned by Summer 2022.

Environmental Improvements
Our new teaching block will house photovoltaic cells on its roof to generate electricity and each classroom includes a heat recovery ventilation unit to avoid wasting heat in winter.  The ventilation units extract hot air from the new classrooms and use it to preheat the fresh air as it is brought in to ensure an optimum classroom environment for learning.   We have also been successful in application to the Government’s ‘Decarbonisation Fund’, which is providing a grant to install an air source heat pump (which extracts heat from the air and transfers it into our heating and hot water system to reduce gas bills); and also to upgrade corridor and classrooms lights to new energy efficient LED systems.  These projects will reduce our use of gas and electricity, saving money and improving our impact on the environment.