THE NEW £4.4 million Addington School building has been officially opened.
Wokingham Borough mayor Cllr Malcolm Richards and executive member for children’s services, Cllr UllaKarin Clark cut the ribbon with headteacher Sara Attra at the school to declare the building officially open.
The expansion means that 50 more pupils can attend the Ofsted-rated outstanding school in Woodley.
Cllr Richards gave a short speech to declare the building open and the guests were given a Covid-safe tour of the building by two students and the headteacher.
The opening was recorded on video to be shown to the rest of the school community.
“I was delighted to be able to visit the fantastic new building and receive the tour where students and Mrs Attra explained the real-world benefits of this project and how it’s helping young people in our borough,” Cllr Richards said.
Construction of the new block follows the opening of two new multi-use games areas (MUGAs), a new sensory path and an expanded car park at the end of September 2019.
Thirty-five of the 50 new places have already been filled from September 2020, with the rest of the additional places due to be taken from next September.
The new places have helped accommodate a new year seven class and an Early Years class, with two additional classes when the new school year starts in autumn 2021.
“The new sixth Form building at Addington school is an excellent addition to the school’s provision,” Mrs Attra said. “Its use is twofold, firstly to provide a new excellent teaching and learning environment for our 16-19-year-olds and secondly to provide space in our old building for an extra 50 special school places.
“These additional places will enable more children and young people with learning difficulties living in Wokingham to attend a local special school.
“Our sixth formers and staff have settled extremely well into the new building and are enjoying using the additional facilities such as the teaching cafe, teaching kitchen and business enterprise room which have greatly enhanced our vocational curriculum.
“Our students have told us how happy they are with their new facilities and in particular the more age appropriate environment and are looking forward to developing the cafe as an enterprise project in the future.”
Cllr Clark said: “The range of facilities on offer will allow students to learn life skills, as well as providing a social space and standard classrooms.”
The construction was completed by modular construction specialists Reds10, alongside council design partners HLM Architects.
Approximately 70% of the building work for the new block was completed modularly offsite, a decision made to reduce disruption to the school and its students, and for its environmental benefits.
