Published on: Friday, September 24, 2021
We are thrilled to announce that the building of the new King’s College Sixth Form Centre is to begin within the next few weeks. Our School Council has given the final go-ahead for this £3.3million project.
Local building company, CG Fry, has been awarded the contract and we look forward to working closely with them over the coming year.
Built on the footprint of the old wooden gym near the art school, this new facility will incorporate a number of classrooms, pupil study areas, offices and a large social area. Departments such as Business Education and Psychology, which have a distinctly Sixth Form focus, will move into the building. Offices will include those for Development, the Head of Sixth Form and the Head of Futures.
Commenting, our Headmaster, Richard Biggs, said: "The architect, Rud Sawyer (who also designed the Silvermead Art Studio) has created a light, airy, modern design, offering flexibility of use and a distinctly grown-up, university feel, which should encourage collaboration, exploration and entrepreneurship among our senior pupils. It will add tremendously to the excitement and distinctiveness of the Sixth Form experience at King’s. I am pleased that a quiet corner of the school will be re-energised – the new building and the art school together will see that area becoming a busy focus of school life."
With a build schedule of 50 weeks, the new centre is due to be opened sometime early in the Michaelmas Term of 2022. Sadly, too late to benefit the current Upper Sixth (and our Headmaster!) but a wonderful prospect for all our other year groups.
The project has been made possible through the careful financial stewardship of our Council and our Director of Finances, Simon Worthy, and also through the generosity of several alumni and other supporters of the school. There is still plenty of scope for alumni and parents to contribute and to become involved in the project – we will be writing with details of further opportunities for support.
A key part of the management of the project up to now, and indeed for the coming year, is our Operations Manager, Darren Potter. We thank him warmly for getting us to this exciting stage and wish him every success for the busy year that lies ahead.
Julian Mack, now our Head of Futures, has been an important figure in initiating and then driving the idea of the Sixth Form Centre ahead. He involved a number of pupils from different year groups in thinking about what the centre should look like, and this input of views had a major influence on the final design.
Work will start within the next few weeks, when the old gym will be taken down. We are confident that disruption to the normal pattern of school life will be kept to a minimum while the build is underway.
This is a truly exciting time for King's and underlines our present confidence as a school. We are in good shape and we have big plans for the future.