Dear Parents and Carers
Thank you to our neighbours who joined us yesterday evening so we could share our plans for a new sixth form building at the front of the school site. That we need a new building to continue to provide the learning environment our students deserve has been on our mind for a few years, though a combination of austerity first and then Covid have somewhat delayed this project.
Even now, whilst we are hopeful that we can secure the required funding, it is far from certain but we have chosen to share this information with our staff, neighbours and parents as we will shortly be submitting a planning application. The vision for the school has been, and will continue to be, educating the students in our catchment area and collaborating with the local authority and our secondary school neighbours to ensure all students in the community get the education they deserve. We have no plans to endlessly expand the school, and although the new sixth form block would provide the much-needed greater capacity for Key Stage 5, apart from supporting the local authority with ‘bulge’ year groups as they come through, we are not looking to increase the numbers in the main school.
The building itself will hopefully be where the bus turning circle currently is, with the front of the school reconfigured to continue to accommodate the buses. It will be two storeys’ high and, as far as possible, carbon neutral. Inside will be classrooms for general use (meaning not specialist spaces such as science labs, D&T etc), study areas and a Key Stage 5 café with plenty of seating inside and out.
As mentioned, this building is currently a plan rather than a certainty though we are working on bringing the plans to life and continuing to support all the students in our community.
With best wishes
Andy Perry – Head Teacher