We are planning to use this page to keep you informed about our new building.

November
We are planning to move into the new building over the last 3 days of this term. At present the new building is being decorated, the flooring being put down and the fixtures and fitments are being installed. The new furniture has been ordered with most of it coming from a Swedish company who are well known for their quality and sustainable ethics.

When the pupils return after Christmas the work will start on the demolition of the juniors and further landscaping of the grounds. Work on the treehouse continues with groups of pupils going to the workshops where the treehouse is being made to see the progress and help in the ongoing designs.

October
Now starts all of the work on the services and the internal finishes. This can seem endless but is one of the final phases and an exciting one. Now all of the classrooms start to get their ceilings and separating doors. Soon to follow will be the wall and floor finishes (all of which were chosen many months ago). There is all of the furniture to be investigated and decided upon and sinks and toilets will start to go in. We should start to see a real difference in the next few months.

September
Lots has happened this month and the new building is really starting to take shape. The walls are mainly in place and the windows have started to be fitted. Work has begun on fitting the electrics and other services. The cladding is being fitted on some of the outside walls while other walls are being rendered and painted in bright colours. The school is already becoming a landmark on the skyline of the local area.

Monday 6th September
The builders have worked extremely hard over the holidays to try to complete the work in Key Stage 1 in time for the staff returning. All the school staff have been in today -cleaning, unpacking and tidying in Key Stage 1 to ensure that everything is ready for when the children return next Monday (13th). Everyone has worked hard and there is still much to be done, but we hope that the children and their parents will be pleased with the result.

The new building for Key Stage 2 is progressing well and it is still on target for the Juniors to be able to move in before Christmas. We will, of course, be using our existing classrooms until then.

Week beginning 23rd August
There's so much to report that its best to do it in seperate chunks.
Key Stage 2 area - The proper ramp has been installed, the stage has been extended and the 'old' staff room has been demolished.
Key Stage 1 area - Wow! What hasn't been affected? New doorways have been formed and old ones blocked up. A corridor has been built along two sides of the key stage 1 hall; the ICT room has been demolished; a new servery area has been built. The way into the Key Stage 1 area from the hall is completely new and the reception rooms are now connected by a new opening between the two classrooms. Various walls have been removed in the nursery.
Inside the new building - The external and internal walls have been fitted.

Take a look the photos.

July
The first chance to take some photos from inside the building site. The new building is really starting to take shape and you can now begin to imagine what the different areas might look like. The roof is nearly watertight and the stairs are in. At the start of the holidays the contractors will start to fix the external cladding and the internal walls.

Week beginning 28th June
During this week the concrete for the ground floor slab has been finished and the roofers have moved in to fix the insulation and roof covering. The plans are underway for the refurbishment of the Infant part of the school during the summer holidays as well as the demolition of the staff room and work to open out the Junior Hall.

The ground floor slab
There is a lot of preparation to do before the ground floor slab can be cast. First the ground has to be made flat. Next, a the shuttering is fixed to act as a kind frame into which to pour the concrete. After that a damp proof membrane is laid down so that no moisture can come up into the floor from the ground. The membrane is usually made from a flexible sheet material which comes on rolls and then needs to be carefully joined together to ensure that there are no holes for water or moisture to get through. Next, big thick sheets of polystyrene-like material is laid on top of the membrane. This is to insulate the floor from cold coming up from the ground. After that the steel mesh reinforcement is put in place to help to strengthen the concrete and only once all this has been fitted to the correct height is it time for the concrete to be poured.

Monday 21st June
Things are moving on apace. The steel decking for the roof is nearly complete and then the insulation can start to be fitted. The ground floor slab is being prepared ready for the concrete to arrive later in the week. Jamie and Tyler from Class Robin talked to one of the builders to find out what was going on. Read here in a few days to see what they discovered.

We saw the big green nets to stop the builders from falling and dropping things onto the people underneath. There were piles of insulation ready to go up on to the roof. The builder told us that they put plastic down on the ground and then polystyrene to stop the floor from getting cold.

May 2010
During May the contractors fixed huge corrugated metal sheets at the level of the first floor of the new steel frame. They then laid steel reinforcing bars on top of the metal sheets to help to make the floors strong and finally they were ready for the concrete to arrive. A massive concrete pump was brought onto the site to pump the liquid concrete into place. The concrete has to go into place all in one go and then it will take a full 28 days before it is fully hard and strong.

Friday 7th May
A fantastic 1:10 scale model of the new tree house was unveiled in assembly today. It's going to be big enough for a whole class full of children to fit on and will hopefully have a roof to shelter us from the sun and the rain! The design for the structure has been worked on by children from across the school along with our friendly artist Usha - well done everyone!

Now start the jobs of raising funds, giving it a name and thinking about artwork to add to the side panels.

Tuesday 4th May
Bundles of steel decking are being lifted onto the steel frame. These sheets will be laid across the steel frame to form the permanent supports for new floors of the building.

Thursday 29th April
The Steel frame is being erected! You really get a sense of how big the new part of the school will be.

Monday 19th April
Over Easter the builders have been busy and while we've been on holiday they have dug out more earth; shuttered and cast concrete and started to get everything ready for the arrival of the main steel frame.

Friday March 26th
Briton and Jack from year 4 interviewed Collum, the building manager, to find out about the next stage in the work.
Now the foundations have been dug out they will be filled with concrete. Next there will be a delivery of huge steel girders, which will begin to form the skeleton of the building. They will be delivered in 4 weeks. The enormous mountains of earth are waiting to be taken away to landfill sites but some of it will remain to be used as top soil.

Friday 19th March
The builders have been excavating the foundations of the new building so a lot of earth has been removed from the site this week. Next week the architect is giving a presentation to all of the children on what the new school will look like... inside and out!

Monday 15th March
The ramp in the junior hall is completed and the link corridor is being demolished.

Friday 12th March
New car park completed. No more getting stuck in the mud!

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