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North East investment set to follow school merger

In January, two North East schools announced their plans to merge to form a new school in September 2014.

Central Newcastle High School GDST and Newcastle upon Tyne Church High School are joining together to create Newcastle High School for Girls, a new leading independent girls’ school. It will be part of the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), one of the UK’s largest educational charities.

Alongside the merger announcement came a commitment from the GDST to make a significant investment in the region as part of its plan to build impressive learning spaces fit for the 21 Century in Newcastle.

Having recently undergone a multi-million pound redevelopment, it was confirmed that the current Central High Junior School site at Chapman House, Sandyford Park will become the Junior School for Newcastle High School for Girls.

The two year redevelopment project at Chapman House saw _Space, the Newcastle based architects, design a cutting edge learning environment to meet the School’s vision for the future while remaining loyal to the heritage of the site. Surgo Construction undertook the building works which included the restoration of a Grade II listed villa designed by John Dobson and, to high acclaim, the Junior School was opened officially in March by the Duchess of Northumberland.

Hilary French, current Headmistress at Central High and future Head of Newcastle High School for Girls, said: “Chapman House is stunning and I am grateful to _Space for their sensitive and imaginative vision and also to Surgo Construction, who completed the buildings to such an impressive standard.”

Now the School’s attention is very much focused on restoring the five acres of grounds surrounding Chapman House to the same exceptional standard and the Newcastle branch of SLR Consulting has been commissioned to turn this part of the School’s vision into reality.

The scale of the landscaping planned is extraordinary for a school and includes a sensory garden and picnic area, a fire pit with seating, a pond and bog garden, outdoor classrooms and storytelling area, an amphitheatre, woodland walks, wildflower areas and two all-weather sports surfaces. Work on the project is expected to start in July with completion planned for the end of 2013.

While the transformation of the Junior School facilities is in its final phase, the planning for the creation of first class facilities for the Senior School for Newcastle High School for Girls is just beginning.

The plans will see the redevelopment of Church High’s superb site on Tankerville Terrace in Jesmond and a leading international practice of architects, BDP, has been appointed to the project.

BDP is the foremost interdisciplinary practice of architects, designers, engineers and urbanists in Europe and during the past ten years BDP has designed and delivered over 70 schools and won over 65 awards for educational projects.

Sue Emms, BDP’s Director for the project, said: “We are delighted and excited to be working on this prestigious project. The vision for the new School is extremely strong and forms a great platform for us to design an inspiring learning environment.”

The first stage of the planning for the redevelopment of the Senior School has already been completed and involved a Masterplanning Day attended by stakeholders from the two schools.

The aim was to brainstorm ideas about how a school fit for the future of girls’ education might look.

Hilary French added: “The information gathered from the Masterplanning Day will form part of the design brief for the Senior School.

“The Girls’ Day School Trust is making a substantial investment in Newcastle High School for Girls. It will be a flagship school for the GDST and will offer girls from this region an outstanding learning environment to complement our innovative curriculum.

“The work we have already completed at our Junior School is an example of the exciting approach we are taking; we are building a new future for education.”

The schools are hosting an Open Week for prospective pupils from 17 - 21 June at both sites.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Vincent .