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New Build Funding
Successful bid for building funds.
We were delighted to hear this week that we have been successful in our £1.6m funding bid to the Department for Education (DfE) for a new building to replace the existing ‘Monkscroft’ classroom block. Monkscroft is a temporary building that has now been in use on our site for over 30 years and it was second hand when it arrived!
Academies like Deer Park have the opportunity to bid to the DfE for ‘big ticket’ new buildings or capital maintenance items once each year. Competition for the limited funding is very strong and it all comes down to the quality of the bid. We have had some success in the past with successful bids for roof repairs but have never previously bid for a complete new building. Bids were submitted in December 2016 and we have had to wait three months for the outcomes. As competition for funds is so strong, we were both surprised and delighted to receive the good news on Tuesday 4 April.
We are not replacing the Monkscroft block with a similar, but more permanent building. Instead we will be adding a new block to the existing main school building. This will not only provide additional classroom space in a purpose-built modern building, but will also provide a significant visual improvement to the front of the school building and will provide an additional staircase, easing potential conjestion when pupils move between floors in the main building. The new classroom block will house the English and IT Faculties on the ground floor and will provide two new Humanities classrooms on the second floor. Staff currently working in Monkscroft (which will eventually be demolished) will be relocated to the main block.
We were thrilled to receive the news about the funds. This will be the first new building on the site in nearly 20 years and will really help to keep the school at the forefront of education in the Cotswolds. I know the successful bid was the culmination of a lot of hard work from many people, both in school and out, and we were one of only three schools in Gloucestershire who received significant funding in this year’s round of bids. I am really looking forward to cutting the ribbon to open the new building to pupils and staff in 2018!
Chiquita Henson, Headteacher
The estimated total project cost is £1.6m, of which Deer Park will be contributing approximately £235,000 - most of which is Section 106 grant funding associated with a recent housing development in South Cerney, and we will be taking out a small DfE loan. Planning permission has already been granted and we will now be working closely with our architects to finalise details of the design and choose a contractor. We hope to ‘break ground’ on the build by the summer holidays this year.