Burgess Hill School for Girls is undergoing major building and development work across the Junior and Senior Schools this summer.
Building work is currently taking place on the Croft Hall, which is being extended to create a new entrance and foyer. A state-of-the-art Languages Lab is also being installed in the Senior School and a Learning Resources Centre will be created in the Junior School.
Croft Hall Extension
The Croft Hall will be extended to create a glazed, curved entrance foyer. The space will be used during public performance intermissions, will provide improved disabled access to Croft Hall from the Senior School car park and connect the Drama and Music departments. The extension is yet to be officially named and is due to open in the New Year.
Croft Hall will again be available to hire by community groups and individuals for regular or one-off events, once work is completed. Croft Hall includes kitchen and toilet facilities and is backed by gardens for social summer events. For more information on hiring the Hall, please contact the school on 01444 241050 or email juliariches@burgesshill-school.com.
Language Suite
The Senior School will have a new Language Suite in the main school building, Webb House, from September. This will be named The Wolfson Suite, after a funding grant awarded by the Wolfson Foundation.
The Wolfson Suite will be used by the Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) department, which teaches a curriculum of French, German and Spanish. The Suite will have space for up to 20 pupils to use computers to engage in personalised listening and speaking exercises using specialised software. This will allow a whole class to practise their foreign language speaking using headsets, whilst the teacher can switch between pupils to listen to and assist with their learning for more personalised lessons.
The Wolfson Suite will be an excellent additional facility for the MFL department which already uses technology to enhance the learning of their students. Digital books are readily available to access on Apple iPads and electronic Smart boards for individual or group learning. MP3 players are used for recording speaking performances and the whole Senior School has implemented the use of shared electronic documents via Google Apps for Education, across all subjects for pupils in Year 7 upwards.
The Wolfson Foundation is an independent charity that awards grants to support and promote excellence in a number of fields, including education. The Foundation have funded capital projects at national museums and galleries, historic sites and universities, including the funding of ten new galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; the Sackler Studios at Shakespeare’s Globe in London; the restoration of the Assembly Room in the Leeds Grand Theatre, home of the award-winning National Opera Company ‘Opera North’; and the restoration of the State Rooms at the National Trust’s Stowe House in Buckingham.
Learning Resource Centre
The Junior School at Burgess Hill School for Girls will also undergo building work to create a Learning Resource Centre (LRC). The LRC will be built in the school’s existing Oaks building and will encompass a new library and a learning space with access to ipads and a large electronic screen for Primary age learning, presentations and research work.
The new library will include the 100 new books which will be awarded to Year 5 in September; they won the national reading competition, Read for My School this month, out of 3,600 schools and they eagerly await their prize taking pride of place in their new LRC.
An Additional Learning Centre (ALC) is also being created for the Junior School’s Individual Needs staff. The area will provide additional facilities for these teachers to continue their work with pupils who need specific targeted support or challenge on a one-to-one basis.
Burgess Hill School for Girls is constantly developing the school buildings and learning facilities to maintain and improve the existing high standards of education offered across all age groups.
Headmistress, Ann Aughwane, said, “I am very grateful to the Governors for their vision and support; it is wonderful to see the continuing investment across the whole school.”
Burgess Hill School Nursery will also be developing its provision from January 2014 with further detail to be announced in September.
For further information about any of these developments, please contact the school on 01444 241050 or visit www.burgesshill-school.com