Nottinghamshire county councillors and representatives from the Spencer Academy Trust gathered on-site to celebrate the progress of a brand new school near Edwalton.

County council leader councillor Kay Cutts MBE and council chairman councillor Kevin Rostance joined other councillors and trust representatives to mark the building progress of Spencer Rosecliffe Academy by planting a tree – and taking a tour of the site.

The new academy, which is being built on the Sharphill housing development near to Wheatcroft Island, will open in September and will create 315 primary places and a 39-place nursery.

Councillor Kevin Rostance spoke about the school’s progress on site and the huge benefit it will bring to the local community.

He said: “Providing the best educational facilities for young people in Nottinghamshire remains a priority for Nottinghamshire County Council and we are delighted that pupils will soon benefit from this brand-new school.

“The tree planting marked the beginning of works on site and we know that children, parents and teachers are excited for their new school to take shape over the coming months.”

Design, cost and project managed by Arc Partnership, with Morgan Sindall as contractor, the project is being delivered through the Scape Regional Construction framework, which aims to deliver local social value through jobs and economic benefit.

Challenges with acquisition of the site required the project be completed in phases. The academy will open in September, operating from a temporary ‘learning village’ with access to the permanent school hall.

The building will be completed in December and the academy will operate from its permanent home from the beginning of the January 2021 term. The cost of the project is £10 million which includes earth movement to the site and the temporary learning village.

Arc Partnership will continue to work closely with the council, the Spencer Academy Trust and Morgan Sindall to ensure the smooth opening of the learning village and the managed transition to the permanent building at a later date.

When complete, the two-storey building will provide nine classrooms, offices, a large hall and studio hall and an administration zone. Resource areas for independent and small group learning are located throughout the building, which has also been designed to allow extended use of key areas, outside of the normal school day.

Four outdoor sports pitches will feature alongside a soft play area, playground, and an enclosed space for nursery pupils. There will be a 35-space car park including two designated disabled spaces and two for electric vehicle charging.

Present at the event on Tuesday were councillor Kevin Rostance, councillor Kay Cutts, and councillor Jonathan Wheeler. From the Spencer Academy Trust were chief executive Paul West, Angela O’Brien and Pavan Chandhoke.

Paul West of the trust said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Nottinghamshire County Council to open and run Rosecliffe Spencer Academy, the school will be a beacon of excellence for primary education and one that the community will be proud of.”

Source: West Bridgford Wire

Work has begun on the creation of a new nursery at a former school in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds.

‘Little Ormsbees’ will be based at a 19th century former school in South Ormsby, following an extensive restoration and refurbishment project.

The nursery will cater for up to 24 children aged up to four when it opens in September.

The former school, which was built in 1858, will have its roof and windows replaced and a new ground source heating system will be installed which will make use of renewable geothermal energy. A new kitchen will be created, along with toilets which will make use of a rainwater harvesting system.

The former school was built for children from the villages of : South Ormsby, Ketsby, Calceby, and Driby by Marie Jeanne Massingberd, a french governess from Versailles who became the dowager of the South Ormsby Estate.

The school taught thousands of children over its long history, and maintained a close connection with the Massingberd-Mundy family which owned the estate for almost four hundred years.

The school closed in 1974, with its pupils transferring to a new school in Tetford.

In the decades since, the Old School has been used for community events and exhibitions, but has largely been left unused.

When ‘Little Ormsbees’ launches this autumn, it will be run by nursery manager Leanne Gains, who is beginning the nursery after spending ten years in a senior role at an award-winning nursery elsewhere in the county.

As well as having a degree in Early Childhood Studies, the mum of two has qualifications in first aid, forest school training, and food hygiene.

Leanne said: “It’s really exciting to be opening my own nursery, which is something I’ve always dreamed of doing.

“I think Little Ormsbees is exactly what parents are looking for and I can’t wait for when we welcome our first children.

“The old school building is absolutely perfect. It’s in a wonderful location where children can play and learn in the heart of the Lincolnshire Wolds, and it will have all the facilities and space we’ll need to be a first class nursery.

“It’s also fitting that the old school will once again be used for education and childcare, which is what it was created for all those years ago.”

Little Ormsbees will be the only nursery within a seven mile radius, and is located a short distance from the A16 and Bluestone Heath Road.

The nursery is designed to support children and parents in nearby villages as well as Louth, Horncastle, Spilsby, and Skegness.

Damien Howard-Pask, spokesman for the South Ormsby Estate, said: “For many years, this area has needed more childcare facilities in order to help young families to stay and settle in the area.

“When Leanne came to us and offered to open a nursery within the old school building, we were blown away by her obvious passion, talent, experience and personality.

“You couldn’t wish for a better person to run a nursery and we’re really excited to give her this opportunity.

“Teams are working hard to restore the old school building, with expert conservationists helping to preserve and protect its historic features while bringing it up to modern standards.

“It’s a beautiful building with a long history, and we are pleased to be beginning a new chapter.”

For further information about the nursery, visit www.southormsbyestate.co.uk/little-ormsbees or contact Leanne and the Little Ormsbees team by emailing thebeehive@littleormsbees.co.uk

Source: Horncastle News

The Dudley House scheme for Westminster City Council includes 197 affordable homes, a permanent home for Marylebone Boys’ Secondary School, a church and retail unit

Sited on a 4,000m² footprint, Dudley House is Westminster’s largest-ever design-and-build contract scheme and intended as a flagship project in the borough’s inclusive ‘City for All’ programme – creating affordable homes and community infrastructure within a highly constrained and commercial urban location.

Child Graddon Lewis’s design approach has been to clearly express the split between all the main uses, with each having an identifiable entrance facing on to separate streets and with separate circulation Cores.

The residential element, wheelchair accessible throughout, is 22 storeys high and clad in terracotta. The homes are a mix of studio,one-bed and two-bed units, all dual-aspect and offered at intermediate rent. The dwellings created contribute to the council’s programme of house-building, which aims to deliver 22,000 new homes by 2040.

The nine-storey secondary school, the tallest in the UK, accommodates Marylebone Boys’ School, a new school which spent its first four years in several temporary locations. Inside, the school has a central atria and the design includes a flexible hall space with retractable seating at basement level. Working with the limitations in space, the design also incorporates a netted play area at roof level.

The church, meanwhile, provides a new home for the local Central Pentecostal Church, which had previously operated in a dilapidated, poorly converted terrace house.

The building uses a central energy centre based upon a Combined Heat & Power system, which reduces the carbon emissions of the building by 40 per cent. On-site renewable energy is generated by rooftop photovoltaics.

Architect’s view

The design approach was to place a vertical split between all main uses. This not only inspires an identity for the residents, pupils and school staff, church congregation and retail business, but allows for more flexibility within the design process while maximising the available footprint of the site. For example, the problem with placing housing above the school – which would have been a viable design solution – is that the layout of the school is inevitably constrained by the structural configuration of the housing above. Also, having playground amenity space between floors means they’re not strictly open-air spaces.

Overall, we believe Dudley House provides a development that will foster a sense of community, completing one of the missing pieces of the Paddington Basin masterplan jigsaw. The vibrant mix of uses will ensure that this stretch of Paddington is much more than just a place where people work.

James Felstead, director, Child Graddon Lewis

Source: Architects Journal

CITB Wales’ Nation Chair Leigh Hughes

One of the biggest challenges the construction industry faces is appealing to young people.

Changing industry perceptions and highlighting the range of opportunities – both on and off site – has long been a sector priority.

I’m delighted to say, as CITB Wales’ Nation Chair, that a huge step towards nurturing and attracting the construction talent of the future has been introduced in Wales.

In January Wales’ Minister for Education, Kirsty Williams AM, launched Go Construct Educate at Willowtown Primary School in Ebbw Vale.

These resources mean construction modules will be part of the Welsh curriculum for the first time.

It’s fair to say that Go Construct Educate is a milestone in Welsh education; a chance to start a pipeline of talent from the classroom to employers.

As part of the Go Construct initiative, resources, covering numeracy, literacy and digital competency skills, will be available to every school, teacher and pupil across Wales aged from five to 16.

Teachers will be provided with a series of learning projects, lesson plans and interactive resources to use with each year group.

And the resources will all be on Hwb, the education online platform available to all 1,456 schools in Wales. The resources will be available to all industry companies, too.

Ahead of January’s launch, schoolchildren across Wales were invited to road-test the three Go Construct Projects in ‘Buildathon’ events at Coleg Cambria in Deeside, Parc y Scarlets in Llanelli, and Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.

Feedback was excellent. Pupils were assigned roles as project managers, architects and construction managers, and were asked to design and build a rugby or cricket fan village using the popular construction programme Minecraft.

Former Wales rugby player Rupert Moon attended these events to talk to the children about the importance of experiencing different careers from an early age.

Crucially, teachers who have worked with the Go Construct resources say it is a great way to connect with the new curriculum.

At the launch event with the Minister, Emma Thomas, Acting Headteacher at Willowtown, said:

“We want to future-proof our learners, to give them skills that will help them succeed. Engaging with the Go Construct Educate project fits perfectly with our STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) ethos.

“We ran Go Construct Educate successfully across the school last year. We found it was an excellent way to engage with the new curriculum. The resources are clear and detailed for teachers to use and they are purposeful and interactive for the children.”

Ahead of the launch the learning and technology company Aspire 2Be worked with the Welsh Government to ensure the lesson plans and resources are aligned with the new curriculum in Wales.

Their work means each module will be integrated in various school subjects, to align with the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art & Maths (STEAM) and will cover the Six Areas of Learning and the Four Purposes.

On launching the resources, funded by the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) and co-developed with Bouygues UK and a consortium of industry partners, Minister for Education Kirsty Williams said:

“I’m grateful to the CITB and their partners for launching Go Construct – Experience, Educate and Engage resources.

“Using these within the classroom and as part of work experience will help schools to recognise and utilise the opportunities the construction sector can offer our learners.”

The Go Construct resources are a good example of collaboration in action.

Pupils, teachers, employers, schools, colleges and government combined to give the young people of Wales, along with their teachers and parents, a great chance to discover the opportunities construction careers have to offer.

Source: Business News Wales

Nine appliances – up to 50 firefighters – were called to Liberton Primary School shortly after 3:30pm.

A fire service spokesman said the building was evacuated and there were no injuries to any of the children and staff.

The school will be closed for the rest of the week and parents will be told next week about contingency plans before pupils go back after the half term on February 17th.

Edinburgh City Council’s education convener described it as a “major fire” which has caused “significant damage to a large part of the school.”

One parent, who did not wish to be named, said he had picked up his child from the school shortly before the blaze broke out.

He said: “It’s a pretty big fire, lots of firefighters and appliances are at the school trying to get it under control.

“The school kids were all out of the building but the after school club was on, so the building was evacuated.”

A video shared on social media shows flames coming out of a first floor window.

Police Scotland also issued a statement this evening advising local residents to keep their doors and windows closed, with firefighters likely to be battling the flames through the night.

Lothian Bus services 3, 8 and 29 have been diverted as a result of the fire.

Roof ‘fell in’

Private hire taxi driver Nina Sneddon-Tillbrook told how she watched the blaze develop as she dropped off a fare near the school at 4pm.

She said: “I dropped off there at 4pm just before the road closed at time was only a few fire engines but part of the roof fell in and flames were coming out the top so I’m no sure if the schools going to survive the fire.

“The teachers were all outside and the flames were quite big.”

School closure and contingency plans

In a tweet on Wednesday afternoon, councillor Adam McVey said: “Fire at Liberton Primary after class finished today.

“Remaining staff & pupils were evacuated with no reported injuries. Parents have been informed school will be closed for remainder of the week. Parents will be updated next week on arrangements for Feb 17th return after break.”

Education Convener Councilor Ian Perry said: “The decision to close the school has not been taken lightly however unfortunately this has been a major fire which has caused significant damage to a large part of the school.

“There have been no reported injuries and I want to thank the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and Council teams for their swift response. We’ll update parents next week regarding contingency arrangements.

“We will work closely with the fire service to determine the cause of the fire.”

‘Deeply concerning’

Lothian MSP Miles Briggs said: “The fire at Liberton Primary School is deeply concerning news and will be incredibly upsetting for the local community.

“I am relieved to hear that there are no reports of an injuries, if the fire had started whilst pupils were at school things could have been much worse.

“Official must get to the source of what caused this fire and make sure that all necessary precautions are taken to ensure this never happens again.”

Source: Edinburgh News