Building News

April 2009

We are moving into the first phase of our new school over the May half-term. School will be closed to pupils on 20th, 21st and 22nd May to facilitate the move and pupils will be using the building from 1st June.
 
It is a really exciting phase as all the finishes come together. We have ordered fantastic new soft play equipment that is at three levels. The pool is being filled today and will also have sensory equipment in it. The whole thing looks amazing.

Click on the image below to see all the images.

October 2008

On Friday 10th October 2008 a group of Governors accompanied by Angela were given a guided tour around the new building by Craig, the Site Foreman.

This was a very exciting moment as we have waited so long and worked so hard to achieve this much deserved building upgrade.

The building work will be done in three phases and this first phase is well under way to be completed on schedule by February 2009. The pupils will then move into this building while work starts on the second phase, which is the middle part of the school and the swimming pool.

Finally the Assessment Centre will be the third and last phase of the project to be undertaken.

We are all looking forward to a more comfortable and spacious future!

Click on the image below to see all the images.

February 2008

We are all really excited to see the preliminary works starting on site this term. The big launch is on 14th February at 12.30. This will involve all pupils and staff as well as members of the building team, representatives of the County Council and other people with an association with the Bettridge. This includes donors to the Splash Appeal and our Specialist School partners. All parents are invited but we would be grateful if you would let the office know that you are coming.

The official event is being led by Peter Bungard, chief executive of the County Council and Rob Garnham, local Councillor for the area but the star of the show for the pupils will be BOB the BUILDER (yes, the real one!). He will be touring classrooms and meeting all the children before the ceremony. Our contractors, Leadbitters, are providing the digger and we hope will keep BOB under control!

Once the official turf has been turned everyone will have the chance to look at the plans, images and architects model for the new building and to talk to the project team. Representatives from Hunter Partnership, the design consultants, will be on hand to answer questions and explain plans.

This will be a really special day for us all having worked so hard to secure the project which will do so much to improve the physical environment in which the school works.

Below are artist impressions of the new school from the front and the pool.

June 2007

We are really excited that the start of our building project is getting closer. Plans have now been submitted for planning permission and a contractor will be appointed shortly. The diggers should be on site in October/November. We hope to organise a “turf turning” ceremony to launch this prestigious project in the Autumn Term.

Plans for the building are shown below. As you see it will be part single and part double story and will have many sustainable features including areas of green roof. A major focus right at the front of the new building is the swimming pool. This element is being funded by money received from many charities, organisations and individuals who have so generously supported our Splash Appeal over the last three years. We have raised a total of £250,000 to provide this additional facility.

Other elements of the building will include much larger classrooms for the children with small teaching spaces to work with individuals, improved toilet facilities to help with personal care and a number of specialist teacher rooms. This will enable us to offer much better facilities for Art, Design Technology, Science, Music and Food Technology work. Staff accommodation will also be improved to enable all the “behind the scenes” tasks to operate efficiently. There will also be therapy and medical spaces, softplay and sensory rooms and a large sports hall.

An important feature of the project is the addition of a Community Room. This is being partly funded by our Specialist Schools grant and will be available for parents and training for staff from other schools and organisations during the school day. It will also be possible for other members of the community to book the room outside of school hours.
Below is the plan of the new building.