School officially opened after £5m scheme

THE newly completed £5m Plymouth Grove Primary School in Manchester has been unveiled at a traditional ribbon cutting ceremony.

Manchester’s Lord Mayor Carl Austin Behan, was on hand to officially open the school, along with John Edwards, director of education and skills at Manchester City Council.

They were joined by representatives from the Education Funding Agency (EFA), Morgan Sindall Investments Limited (MSIL) and Morgan Sindall, which delivered the project.

Morgan Sindall’s brief was to deliver 12 schools across the North West for the EFA’s Priority School Building Programme (PSBP). The programme, awarded to a MSIL/Equitix consortium in August 2014, aims to provide new, modern facilities to the schools in most urgent need of repair and replacement.

Plymouth Grove’s new, two-storey building boasts 15 classrooms, a music teaching room and a 150 sq m school hall linking to an adjacent dining room. There are also additional kitchens, offices and storage to provide the space necessary for the school’s operation.

Notable improvements have also been carried out to the school grounds. The existing play area has been expanded and an outdoor ‘forest school’ created to give Plymouth Grove’s 455 pupils hands-on interaction with the natural environment, while providing an engaging learning experience.

The school has recently been named in the top 100 schools in England and pupils also won a debating competition at the Houses of Parliament.

Headteacher Michael Cooke is confident that the new facilities will allow them to build on this success.

He said: “The old, red brick building is an important part of Plymouth Grove’s 110-year history, but was in need of repair and refurbishment.
 
“We now have the first-class facilities to match the brilliant teaching we’ve always offered. Children and teachers alike will benefit from the modern, comfortable learning environment. We’ve got the physical foundations in place to support our aim of giving our pupils the best possible start in life.”

Andy Hall, Morgan Sindall’s managing director in the North, added: “We are proud to be to be delivering these schools as part of the PSBP programme. It’s great to see that pupils are already enjoying the new facilities and we’re pleased to have made what we hope will be a lasting contribution to the education offering in the area.”

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