Work Starts on New Orchard School in Newark

The new school is being built on the site of the old Grove Leisure Centre on London Road in the £15million project.

In a ceremony today (Tuesday 18 June) work was started at the site by Nottinghamshire County Council Leader Councillor Kay Cutts, along with headteacher Margot Tyers and a group of children from Newark Orchard School.

The new school will have 140 places for children with Special Educational Needs, with capacity to extend to accommodate 170 places in the future. Plans for the school include interactive classrooms, a new hydrotherapy pool, external specialist play areas to support the children’s needs and associated landscaping. 

Colour will be used throughout the new school to help the young people find their way around the building easily. An internal courtyard will allow plenty of daylight to flood the building and create a sensory space for the children. 

The new Day Services building will accommodate the different needs of service users and provide a welcoming environment. The centre will host a café and a central courtyard will offer good levels of light and visibility. The activity rooms will be designed so that there is level access to the outdoors and will be designed to be used flexibly for music, dance and exercise, craft activities, beauty therapy and physio sessions. 

Margot Tyers, headteacher of Newark Orchard School, spoke about the exciting future of the school, “This is a long awaited dream come true and will allow us to provide excellent opportunities for our young people. We have held our first visioning day with staff and governors to plan for our future in the new school to ensure we make the most of the fantastic new facilities. “

Councillor Philip Owen, Children and Young People’s Committee Chairman, who also attended the turf-cutting ceremony said: “The redevelopment of Newark Orchard School will provide state of the art learning facilities for children who have special educational needs. The new school will be a place where the staff will be able to work with the children and young people and encourage them to reach their full potential in a new purpose-built environment.” 

The project is planned to be finished in by Spring 2020.

Children from  Newark Orchard School with Councillor Kay Cutts, Leader of Nottinghamshire County Council at the turf -cutting ceremony. (Photo: Nottinghamshire County Council)