White City schools complex to open for wider community use
Friday May 21, 2010
Proposed new site designs
Plans are being developed for the creation of an innovative multi-school complex in White City.
View the proposals» (pdf, 6MB)
Tell us your views» (pdf, 6KB)
Subject to planning permission, Cambridge special school will move to the Bryony Centre, next to the Phoenix High school campus. The new building will meet the needs of a 21st century school, with integrated community services such as adult education and youth services, to create an exciting new collaboration for children and adults in the north of the borough.
The £8.5 million project will see the Bryony adult learning centre moving to the Paragon site on Australia Road in White City. Their vacated site will then be used to create both a state-of-the-art community education centre and to build a new home for Cambridge School, currently based in Hammersmith.
Cambridge school provides special needs education for children with a wide range of learning difficulties and other disabilities. Its pupils will get a new building designed specifically to meet their special needs, with the added bonus of closer working with neighbouring mainstream pupils at Phoenix High school, and access to the on-site Janet Adegoke pool and gym.
Plans are also being put together to create a community café for local residents. It will be used as a training kitchen for young people and adult learners to give an added opportunity to develop really useful life skills.
“This new education complex is a major part of our vision for transforming secondary and special education across the borough,” explains Council Leader, Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh. “White City will get vastly improved school buildings, but it is more than that. Our vision is to open up our schools outside the normal school day so that families and local residents also benefit from this huge investment in facilities.”
Headteacher Olivia Meyrick says; "Cambridge School pupils really benefit from working in a wide range of environments and we are excited about being able to share some of the Phoenix High School facilities, such as the Phoenix Farm and Learning Zone. We will also be able to provide support to some of the Phoenix pupils who have difficulties in learning, and we hope to work with their staff to develop specialist expertise to support pupils across the borough and for the wider adult community."
Consultation with local residents on a planning brief for the Phoenix campus took place last year. A planning application for the Bryony site is likely to be submitted in early June.
As part of the wider Schools of Choice programme, Phoenix High school has also begun work on creating a brand-new sixth form centre. It will also share in huge new investment across the borough in ICT, including cutting edge classroom technology and learning at home via the internet.
A local community consultation exhibition has been carried out at Bryony Centre on Friday 21st May 2.00 - 5.00pm, and Monday 24th May 18.30 - 20.45pm. The purpose of the exhibition was to invite feedback from local residents on the proposals for the new Cambridge School building at the Bryony Centre site, prior to a planning application scheduled for mid-June.
Any residents who were unable to attend these events can access the exhibition display boards by following the web links at the top of this page. Comments can be submitted on the feedback form (pdf, 6KB) provided, either by post or email, by Tuesday 1st June 2010.
