We’ve absorbed many changes over the years at the school. When the Victorians built the original School Hall, they may have wondered how children would be fed during school time, but I doubt they would have considered IT technology, projectors and the ever increasing content of the curriculum.

 

Each year the governing body looks at maintaining the excellent standards of the school through examining future needs against trends – both of our catchments and government and social change. Lat year we believed that additional space would benefit contact time for reception classes in particular. Time spent in the early stage is beneficial throughout school life.

 

The school footprint (the area it occupies) has very little open space left after the last few years’ investment in a new classroom, library, kitchen/teaching room, special needs room and lobby. We went up once, lifting the staff room to the schools first ever upper floor thus releasing space for IT and teaching. We did not wish to constrain outdoor play space further and so we decided to go up again and commissioned an architect to look at solutions.

 

Plans were ready in May 2008, but we did not envisage that funds would be available so quickly. We took advantage of the situation and moved quickly. In June we went to tender and matched design to funds to commit work over the summer. Things moved so quickly that award of contract happened after the school closed for summer.

 

The building work finished at Christmas. We would have liked to complete by term 2, but wanted to keep the disruption to school to a minimum and separate work and children as far as practicably possible. Moving heavy beams, floors and roofs needed careful thought and all building work, particularly demolition is dirty. To do this means the work has taken longer – but it was tidier and easier for all involved in the school.

 

We cleared two classrooms to allow progress on building. We could not use the classrooms with no ceiling and work going on above and we wished to separate children from the work. So, we arranged for temporary space in Toad Hall.

 

To support the new upper classrooms two large beams were required – cranes were the only way to lift these in and neither the school nor Contractors wanted to risk children’s safety. Our risk assessment with the Contractors led us to close the school until the beams were in place. The delivery and installation went exactly as planned. The two days do not change the normal length of school time required for the year – they are built into the calendar.

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We have built two classrooms suitable for 30 children above the large classrooms 1 & 2 in what is an Edwardian extension to the original School Hall. This releases space in classroom 4.

 

The school has to have its first pupil sized staircase to lead up to the classrooms – this starts at the library entrance and is a widening of the staircase to the staff room.

 

At the top there is a corridor and entrance to the two classrooms

 

The classrooms are built in the roof – they have sloping ceilings at the sides and flat in the middle. The outside wall has wonderful V shaped windows between the roof gables. The equipment is identical to other classrooms – projectors, interactive whiteboard, IT equipment and hand washing.

 

 

The Hookway Partnership LLP          - Planning supervisors and project managers

Graham Rivers                                     - Architect

Needhams Building Contractors       - Single contract for all works

 

Funding is from the school and the Diocese of Clifton

 

The work has now finished with no incidents or injuries to anyone. The Contractors have worked with consideration and have adhered to the policy of non-contact with the school or school activities.