School Update
September is seeing the final touches being carried out to our wonderful new school building for Frenchay Primary School! We cannot wait to move in on the 14th and open officially on the 19th September. Year 4 and 5 children had one final visit before we broke up for the summer where they met Toby Savage, Head of the Council, along with Councillors Erica Williams and Ben Burton. They were able to see the walls beginning to be painted, all with natural colours to go with the natural feel of the school, chosen by Katherine Marks, due to the location of the school next to the conservation area.
Play equipment is being provided by the school after the move date, again with a natural feel as it is all wood made by Pentagon Play. This work will be carried out between November and January, with the final piece being a large play Castle to be sited along the AstroTurf next to the new football pitch.
There is much for us to look forward to as well as much to organize! We know there is a huge amount of history in the current site which we do not want to lose touch with. As part of the memorial of this chapter of school life, we shall be displaying a model of the original building, made by Rich Spence for the Frenchay Flower Show a couple of years ago. This was kindly donated to the school by him and a fitting link between old and new.
Once we are settled in, we shall hold an Open Day session after school so the local community can come and visit to see the end result for themselves. We look forward to seeing you all then. Watch this space for more details in the next edition of the Frenchay Community News.
Katherine Marks (Headteacher)
Excitement builds as new Frenchay Primary School nears completion
Even as staff and students look forward to the summer holidays, a group from Frenchay Church of England Primary School have visited the site of their brand new facilities to take a last peek before building work is completed over the break. They will move in at the start of the new school year in September.
The new school is a total rebuild and enlargement on part of the site of the former Frenchay Hospital. It will have state of the art facilities and, as temperature records tumble, the visitors were particularly keen to see and learn about the environmental performance of their new buildings, which are designed to Passivhaus standards of environmental performance, meaning they will have a very low carbon impact on the environment.
Building work began on the £10 million project in January this year and the finished facilities will incorporate a range of features that will reduce running costs and minimise the school’s impact on the environment.
Key design elements to achieve this include high levels of insulation and triple glazing to help keep staff and students cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Heat will be generated by air-source heat pumps and supported by a Mechanical Ventilation and Heat Recovery (MVHR) system to provide good air quality in the winter whilst reusing heat.
Photovoltaic solar panels (PV) will be installed on the roof of the building to generate zero carbon energy for use by the school and that will be fed into the national grid when not being used on-site. Low energy, LED lighting will be used throughout, to further reduce energy consumption. As a result, the building is fully electric with no fossil fuels consumed on site. All of this combines to reduce the running costs for the school.
As well as being a brand new facility, the new school will also be larger than the existing one. Space over two storeys will accommodate 420 pupils and the welcome a two-form entry to meet the need for local school places.
Frenchay CofE Primary School Headteacher, Katherine Marks, said:
“My staff and I are so excited about starting the new school year in these brand new buildings. The pupils who visited the site were fascinated to see how the school is coming together, layer by layer, as well as to meet some of the builders and hearing from them how they are making our new school.”