5:25pm Friday 16th May 2008
By Katie Adams
SIXTH formers at Hardenhuish School in Chippenham will be on a par with neighbouring schools if approval is granted for their own state-of-the-art centre.
Plans for a multi-million pound sixth form facility at the school in Hardenhuish Lane will accommodate an extra 150 pupils.
The proposals have been submitted to North Wiltshire District Council and the school is awaiting news on funding from the Learning and Skills Council.
It is thought the total cost of a new two-storey building and additional science labs will be about £2m.
Deputy headteacher Jan Hatherell said it was exciting for the school, which would greatly benefit from a modern facility.
The project will mean the school not only builds a new sixth form centre, but it will also be adding extra labs to the science block.
Mrs Hatherell said: "The plans would mean we have additional specialist accommodation. This would mean an enlarged science centre and three more laboratories."
She said sixth formers would also benefit from a new common room and extra classrooms, with disabled access installed.
She explained: "We were ready to go with the plans in January and invited in our neighbours to see what we wanted to do for the sixth formers."
The school initially proposed to work with existing buildings and adapt them.
But once a regional property consultant from the Learning and Skills Council had been into assess their plans he told the school he would prefer it to demolish existing buildings and start from scratch.
Mrs Hatherell said: "We would hope to get the demolition done soon, as obviously that is something that would be safer during the school holidays."
Mrs Hatherell said last year the school had a particularly small Year 11, which meant their sixth form intake was around 200.
This number is expected to grow to 230 pupils from September and increase to around 350 in future years.
In 2006 Abbeyfield School secured £4.5m from the Learning and Skills Council for their sixth form centre.
Mrs Hatherell said the school had also put in plans to improve traffic on its grounds.
The school had saved money from its capital funding from last year and was going to take some from this year to create additional parking.
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