Our School
We are immensely proud of our building and the excellent, state-of-the-art facilities that it has to offer to our pupils and to the community. A great deal of thinking, planning, dreaming, consulting and sheer hard work from all involved went into the completion of the building and we think it paid off!
In April 2010, the builders moved on to the existing school site and began preparatory work so that the old building could remain in use while the new school was constructed.
From this date, the school and its pupils carried on as usual while building works continued just a few feet away. It is a credit to the pupils and to the builders how well this arrangement worked and that life at school continued (almost) as normal.
‘The big move’ took place over the 2012 Easter holiday, with all classrooms and offices packed up for removal by the end of term. The removal team and the school’s caretakers worked flat out during the holiday to ensure that everything from the old school was moved across to the new building in time for the first day back.
There were plenty of changes and new systems to get used to once the doors of the new school opened for the first time, but everyone adapted very well to their new environment and the school was back up and running at full force in no time.
The building cost £27.5 million and includes a range of fantastic modern facilities to help each and every one of our students to achieve their own potential and get the most out of learning.
These facilities include:
• Spacious classrooms, complete with state-of-the-art equipment to help pupils with their studies;
• Breakout zones on each floor that allow pupils to use IT, either as part of their lesson or at break times, to supplement their learning;
• Hellerup Stairs, a large staircase used for seating at break times;
• A new performance hall, complete with retractable seating and top of the range lighting and music equipment. There is also a camera built into the lighting rig so that school performances can be recorded easily;
• The Learning Resource Centre (LRC) contains a library and a full IT suite;
• The ‘art terrace’- a roof terrace that can be used during lessons or by year 11 pupils at break and lunch times;
• A range of facilities that will be available for hire by the community outside school hours later this year;
• A new canteen and snack bar, providing tasty, good quality, healthy meals to pupils and staff every day.
