Work has begun on a new building for a Croydon primary school which has been without a permanent home for four years.
local MP, Steve Reed, attended the ceremonial ground-breaking ceremony for Paxton Academy’s new Thornton Heath site, which should be completed by winter 2019.
The primary free school, specialising in sports and science, has run out of tempoaray buildings since 2014.
Pupils have been taught in portacabins, earning the school the nickname the ‘portacabin academy.’
Mr Reed, MP for Croydon North, said: “This marks a momentous day for the Paxton Academy Trust.
“The Principal, staff, governors and pupils have shown remarkable resilience in overcoming major difficulties with finding additional accommodation for their growing numbers and obtaining planning consent for this permanent building.
“I am delighted to be able to celebrate with them the start of their new school building which will provide state of the art facilities to deliver a modern 20th century education for its pupils.
“I look forward to joining them again when they move into their new permanent home.”
Mr Reed was joined by the chair of Paxton Academy Trust, Barrington Gooden, the school’s principal, Johnette Barrett, along with parents, pupils, the contractor and representatives from the Department for Education.
The new building, to be built by the McAvoy group, will include classrooms, a multi use games area sports deck, breakout areas as well as a playground area on the roof of the building.
The contractor will manufacture 112 steel framed modules for the new four-storey building at their production facilities in Northern Ireland, which will then be delivered to the site in May 2019.
Source from yourlocalguardian.co.uk
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