After several years of bidding for capital funding and designing a new multi-storey teaching block for the College we are now ready to begin the project and cater for ongoing expansion of the school. This means that from April 2016 the astro turf area will be unusable for a year and while this will naturally cause short term inconvenience in terms of play and sport areas for students, the long term benefits will be excellent. These will include a sixth form and multi purpose flexible teaching block with beautiful landscaping. It will also include a new Multi Use Games Area (MUGA).
Rationale for Expansion and New build
For the last several years St Michael’s has had well over 700 applications for 130 places in Year 7 while we are now very oversubscribed in our sixth form. Moreover, in 2011 when St Michael’s was rebuilt under the BSF (Building Schools for the Future) programme our roll was 700 students, but the College itself was only built for 600. The outcome therefore was that while we had a lovely new learning environment for our students, we lacked classroom space, hence I brought in temporary classrooms in the form of portacabins to cater for our expanding community. In the same year at the ongoing request of parents and students we opened our sixth form which has gone from strength to strength. In order to deal with our expanding numbers therefore we have been working relentlessly to try and find monies and ways to accommodate our wonderful students. I am totally confident that the right learning environment both physically and mentally creates the best outcomes, hence I have made this a priority over the last two years, which is now beginning to come to fruition.
I am conscious that all building work brings disruption of some sort however we are endeavouring to keep disturbance to a minimum, hence I have not allowed the build and piling to start until after the Summer A level and GCSE exams. We have also done a lot to satisfy BREEAM conditions which improves sustainability.
Needless to say I hope you will support us in this new venture for the future of your children and our Catholic school community, though should you have any queries do not hesitate to contact your child’s Leader of Learning in the first instance.
Yours
Grainne Grabowski
Principal
