Member Article

Building for the future of Ashington

Building work is underway on a £3.75 million extension to Ashington High School Sports College.

The new Advanced Learning Centre, funded by Northumberland County Council, will house STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) facilities, a drama studio and classrooms. The investment is at the centre of Ashington Learning Partnership’s development plans.

Under the new structure, the high school will cater for 1,250 11 to 18 year old students. The other schools in the Ashington Learning Partnership, Central First, Wansbeck First, Hirst Park Middle and Bothal Middle will merge to create two new primary schools based on the sites they already occupy.

Wansbeck MP, Ian Lavery and leader of Northumberland County Council, Grant Davey have visited Ashington High to check on progress with the new building. They were joined by local man, manager of Ashington AFC and former England cricketer Stephen Harmison.

Commenting on the visit, Ian Lavery MP said: “This is going to be a stunning new facility and as a former pupil of the school I’m very proud to see the progress that is underway. The school has had a difficult time of late but this new building is an integral part of the improvement plan which focuses on delivering outstanding education to Ashington’s students. I look forward to returning on completion of the building.”

Many of the facilities in the Advanced Learning Centre, including the drama studio, will be open to the community outside of the school day.

Rob Kitching, principal at Ashington High School Sport College explained the concept behind the new building: “As well as achieving the best they can academically, we also want our students to be confident performers and healthy young adults so the Advanced Learning Centre will enable us to improve our offer across the board. It’s very exciting to see the building taking shape and I hope students and the wider community will make full use of the fantastic facilities here for many years to come.”

Councillor Grant Davey, leader of Northumberland County Council said: “This £3.75 million investment by the council is a signal of our intent to drive improvements in the teaching and learning environments in Northumberland schools.

“We recognise the importance of studying sciences and technology at a young age and the potential career paths it can send pupils down, including engineering and manufacturing. STEM subjects will be vital in the planned economic development of the county. We want to ensure our pupils have a strong grounding in these key skills so they can progress onto further education, training, apprenticeships or employment across our region.”

The Advanced Learning Centre, which is being built by Esh Construction Ltd, will be completed in November 2015 with the school taking occupation in January 2016.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Round Table Solutions Ltd .