Investing In Nuneaton School’s Future

10/8/09

Pupils returning to a Nuneaton school after the summer holidays will be holding their English lessons in new temporary classrooms costing over £200,000.

The four portable buildings measuring 300sqm have been installed at Alderman Smith School in Radnor Drive.

The newly-named Arbury Block also features an office, library, heating, air conditioning and carpets thanks to state-of-the-art work by Coventry-based Central Site Accommodation.

The installation of the new temporary classrooms started when the school’s business manager Anita Evans mentioned to Martin Boag from Yorkshire Bank’s Financial Solutions Centre (FSC) in Coventry that they needed new buildings.

“Martin came to the school for a meeting about our accounts at Yorkshire Bank and I mentioned that we needed new temporary classrooms for the school because the others were beginning to fall down,” she said.

“He said he had a client called Central Site that specialised in creating portable units at its factory and then transporting everything here virtually ready-made.

“The contractors demolished the previous temporary classrooms two weeks before the end of term and then once the holidays had started, they installed the new ones and Tarmaced the area outside.

“Our new head Mrs Margaret Ryan has been brought in to improve the standard of teaching and to do that teachers need the right surroundings to encourage students to learn.

“Mrs Hilary Hibbitt, who is head of English, is delighted with the finished results and I am sure the pupils will be too.”

Mike Walsh from Central Site Accommodation said it had taken three weeks to build the classrooms at its factory in Binley.

“We built everything from scratch to complete the classrooms including fitting the carpets and air conditioning at our factory and then transported them over to Alderman Smith School,” he said.

“I know there are plans for the school to merge with Manor Park School to form an academy and if that happens then these classrooms can easily be moved – or we can have them back and give them to another client!”

Martin, business partner at Yorkshire Bank’s FSC at the Ricoh Arena, said the bank’s ethos was centred on creating partnerships and connecting people.

He said: “We constantly introduce customers to each other to encourage them to do business and it has worked out perfectly at Alderman Smith School.

“The new classrooms are a big improvement and I am sure the pupils will enjoy their English lessons much more in the future.”