Studio Architects: NEW CLASSROOMS

The core Victorian school building dates from 1873 and was designed by J.L Pearson, architect of the adjacent church St. John the Evangelist. The school was much expanded by a comprehensive development of the site in 1974 but rising demand led to a further single classroom extension in 1999, also by Studio Architects.

The school continued to grow and required a further classroom in 2002, together with facilities for the disabled, in compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act.

By this time space for further extension was extremely limited: the School building is hemmed in on its northern boundary by the Village Hall, also in the throes of expansion, and the small but vital staff car park to the west. The kitchen service yard became the site of a new Classroom, Accessible WC, Group Room and access Corridor from the existing School plan.

The Classroom plan was aligned with the existing Staff Room so that a plain tiled pitched roof with stone gables could be used to unite the two spaces leaving a neutral link created from the Staff entrance. This nominal gap, faced in render, effectively separates the northwest gable of the Victorian School from the extension while burying the painted brickwork of the Staff Room. The remaining secondary spaces have low flat roofs, with roof lighting, to match the existing accommodation dating from earlier extensions.