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Life is looking up for pupils as new-look Crown Hills Community College takes shape

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This aerial view shows the huge building project taking place to transform a city college.

Crown Hills Community College is being rebuilt at a cost of £21 million. The aim is to create an eye-catching, futuristic structure with classrooms flooded with natural light.

The fabric of the building, being built on the same site as the current one in Gwendolen Road, Evington, is complete.

Plastering work will begin in the new year, with students and staff set to move in by October.

The new school will provide more than 125,000 sq ft of floor space, compared with the 116,000sq ft of its predecessor.

The transformation of the 16- acre site will also include outdoor areas for eating and learning, a theatre with retractable seating, a fitness suite and dance studio and a sports hall.

Head teacher Bernie Green said: "Progress has been amazing. What we'll get at the end of it is a building that is completely transformational in what it delivers to students.

"It will lift their spirits every time they walk through the door.

"Some pupils have been able to look around the site, including our Btec construction students – which has been helpful for their coursework."

Work started in April as part of Leicester City Council's Building Schools for the Future programme to rebuild or refurbish every city secondary.

The building is designed around a series of indoor plazas with "learning zones" for specific subjects, including a discovery zone for ICT, humanities and languages and an exploration zone for English and arts subjects. The sports hall will have six cricket lanes and courts for tennis, football, netball and volleyball.

Crown Hills school was built in the 1950s and accommodation has become cramped and dilapidated since then.

Business manager Dean Barnett said: "The heating is rundown and inefficient. That won't be a problem in the new school.

"It will have lots of natural light and the corridors are twice the size of what we're used to which means there won't be congestion."

Funding for the most of the council's building work has come from the Government, but Crown Hills and City of Leicester school, where work is also under way, are being financed privately. Crown Hills has also donated about £300,000 of its own funds.

The sports hall has been part funded by the English Cricket Board, which donated £800,000 towards the facilities which will also be for community use.

Mr Barnett said: "We're incredibly excited about what the future holds for us."

Life is looking  up for pupils as  new-look Crown Hills Community College takes shape


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