A NEW ‘state-of-the-art’ sixth form centre will be created at a school near Malvern after it secured a Government grant of more than a million pounds.
Work is set to get under way in August at Hanley Castle High School to build a £1.4million block which will house students looking to further their education.
The Condition Improvement Fund, which is part of the Government’s Education Funding Agency, has also pumped almost £200,000 into The Chase School and £115,000 into St Matthias Primary School, while Great Malvern Primary, The Chantry and Suckley School have all benefited as well.
The eco-build at Hanley, which is expected to be completed by September 2016, has been largely designed by students and will feature classrooms, a common room, an IT suite, a library and work rooms for independent study. It will also include solar panels on the roof.
Headteacher Lindsey Cooke told The Observer the sixth form numbers have increased by 50 per cent since she took over five years ago, meaning the new building was ‘absolutely essential’.
“This is massive and enormously exciting for the school,” she said.
“Superb A-level outcomes over a number of years have resulted in a significant increase in the number of students choosing Hanley and they deserve a spacious, state-of-the-art building that meets the needs of a thriving, successful sixth form.
“We are also determined to preserve the current building for future generations to enjoy.”
A further £198,741 grant was given to The Chase School to replace the windows and doors from the Annexe Block of the Geraldine Road site.
Headteacher Richard Jacobs said: “We are very pleased to receive this funding.
“We are now able to bring our Annexe Block up to date, making it more energy efficient and thus provide an even more comfortable learning environment for our students.
“It also means we can continue to use this heritage building, which symbolises the links we have developed with so many of our local cyber-based companies.”
Another school in the town to benefit from the fund was St Matthias Primary School, in Malvern Link, which had its £115,000 bid to replace the ‘decaying roofs’ at the Cromwell Road building accepted.
Concerns were raised after a series of leaks in recent years had forced the school to relocate equipment and even remove the carpets. Claire Davies, headteacher for six years, said the work was vital.
“We are really pleased to be receiving the money as we thought we would have to take the money out of our budget,” she said. “This would have been devastating for us because it would have meant other aspects of school life would have suffered.”
Conservative Parliamentary candidate for West Worcestershire Harriett Baldwin also played a key role in lobbying ministers to secure the funding and was praised by school bosses for the work she did.
Nationally, the fund injected £367million into 1,366 projects across 1,089 academies and sixth form colleges.
