£3m revamp of Northampton academy unveiled
The newly built atrium at Malcolm Arnold Academy.
A MULTI-million pound refurbishment of a Northampton secondary school, including a complete overhaul of the sixth form centre, library and art and music departments, has now been completed.
Students at Malcolm Arnold Academy, in Trinity Avenue, are now using the new facilities which also include a new atrium which can be used by students and staff to eat, socialise or work.
The £3 million refurbishment of the school was funded from one of the last allocations of money from the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) fund, which was scrapped by the Government last year.
Philip Cantwell, principal of Malcolm Arnold Academy, said: “The renovation work has significantly upgraded our learning environment, giving students additional space to study and revise in specialist break-out areas. We believe that the better facilities you can offer young people, the better they will respond both in and out of the classroom.
“We have certainly seen the impact since the beginning of term and look forward to this project paying dividends in students’ studies in the near future. As an academy which specialises in music, I’m particularly proud of the refurbished music department which now houses a recording studio, additional practice rooms and a state-of-the-art ICT suite.”
Much of the refurbishment work at the academy, which is sponsored by the David Ross Foundation, was carried out last summer but the atrium has only recently been opened to the students.
The atrium has been given a new mezzanine floor and students will be able to buy a variety of different healthy meals at lunch and break times.
Last month, the Chronicle & Echo reported that every sixth form student at Malcolm Arnold had been given a laptop as part of a £2 million overhaul of the school’s computer network. The school also recently signed a £1.5 million contract with technology services company, Northgate Managed Services, to provide a new campus-wide wi-fi network. The re-developed school atrium is expected to be a place where small groups of students can collaborate on the wi-fi network.
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Comments
There are 9 comments to this article
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Can you believe it
Monday, January 16, 2012 at 12:24 AMTo get schools out of the public authority control you bribe them with money and new facilities. If the school attracts then a better class of student and teachers (should do with wonderful new facilities( their GCSE results improve- hey magic! PFI a massive Labour Party financial mistake which is and will cost the country many times the original cost. In the Nhs the real sting are the interest changes and the lease terms for doing work. Proves that politicians only waste money. Sad thing is that only a few schools the early ones really get the real money.Heads also of course get a lot more money.
Stroppy40
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 08:45 PMThe likes of Malcolm Arnold and Weston Favell were crying out for money to be spent on them and I think it's unfair to say they 'trampled' over others when they'd been left behind for years. Should only the likes of NSB get any money spent on them? As Finker says: most of the building work was completed under the PFI agreement before they were academies.
lady muck
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 11:20 PMSteveRiches...I agree we need some musicians. it looks as though every school wants to be an Academy. Not sure what the advantage is. One surprising aspect of our schools is how they can go full cycle from good to bad to good etc within our own memories. Trinity, Weston Favell Upper and Abington Vale Lower are cases in point (for old folks, I have used previous names...and I know that some have existed with even older names in before we moved to the '3 tier' system)
Finker
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 11:01 PMSteve I agree with most of your comment except that WF had most of its work done at the same time as most of the other secondaries in town had major work (Kingsthorpe, Mereway, Duston, NSB, NSG)
SteveRiches
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 05:50 PMYes, lady muck, we do need more musicians. They are a big earner for this country and they enrich other people's lives as well as their own. As to the money spent on the school, well, I am pleased for the pupils but as usual when the political will is there for someone to prove a point the money suddenly becomes available. There are many schools which could show great improvement if they got the resources (see the Pricipal's comments above about the effect of their new resources) but many are left to rot, whereas places like the former Trinity and Weston Favell suddenly have everything they want once they jump on the Academy bandwagon. There is no need to have a wider responsibility in the distribution of resources if you are an academy, you've already trampled others to get what you've got.
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Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 05:45 PMWill this be a university like croby?
TeddyMcnabb
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 05:19 PMEXPECTATIONS: a multi-record-breaking result in GCSE,s then.LADY MUCK, i believe you like swooning to the harp at e "la Shovelles"
lady muck
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 04:47 PMThat's what this country needs to get out of the recession...more musicians.
vokey
Thursday, January 12, 2012 at 04:35 PMI think its a disgrace that this money was spent here so soon after its construction. When i look at Rushden Community College and Latimer Arts college in comparison it is a disgrace when these schools are badly dilapidated, yet couldnt afford even a science lab refurbishment due to cost. What makes this school so special ? I went to Trinity School,i dont know why they had to completely demolish that place to make way for this 'new' school,. I wonder how much David Ross has put towards this
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