New Buildings for Kempston Rural Lower School
Lib Dem Mayor of Bedford Borough, Dave Hodgson visited Kempston Rural Lower School on Wednesday 18th December to turn the last nut in the steel framework to launch the construction of new buildings for the school. Once completed in September 2014, the school will operate as a 2 form entry school for its reception years, catering for the additional pupils from the new developments at land west of Kempston.
The £4.5 million works are taking place as part of the Council's £35.6 million investment in the improvement and maintenance of schools in the borough over the next 3 years.
Dave said: "This high quality building is one of very few of its kind in the country, and will provide current and future pupils at Kempston Rural Lower School with superb facilities. We have invested heavily to ensure the creation of excellent teaching and learning space, and wish all the children and staff at Kempston Rural the very best for a successful future at their brand new school site."
Angela Stanbridge, Head teacher, at Kempston Rural Lower School: "We are absolutely thrilled to be relocating to a new school site. We will be retaining all our staff, governors and children and we are looking forward to continuing to deliver, high quality education to the children of Kempston, for which Kempston Rural Lower School has always been known."
The building is being constructed in partnership with Willmott Dixon and will be the eighth of twelve of such buildings across the country using the unique Sunesis product range of pre-designed school buildings, offering time and cost certainty. The new building will achieve significant savings for taxpayers while still delivering an excellent teaching and learning space for pupils.
Ofsted's recent Annual report ranks Bedford Borough as second best place in the country to send your child to lower or primary school. The ranking is based on the proportion of children attending good or outstanding lower/primary schools, with a massive 95% of children reported as being in such schools in Bedford Borough.
Since that data was compiled, the figure has increased even further to 97%, which would place Bedford Borough as the joint top local authority area in the country for lower/primary schools.