SCHOOLS: New classroom for South Petherton Juniors

WORK to bring a brand new classroom to staff and pupils at South Petherton Junior School will begin this week.

Somerset County Council is building a single-storey extension at the school, to include an additional classroom, taking the capacity of the school to 150 pupil places.

Regulation Committee members gave the green light for the £317,000 project in April 2015. Once complete, it will provide much-needed additional learning space at the junior school, which is located on the village’s southern outskirts.

The new building will include the classroom, storage and cloakroom space, together with a glazed corridor linking the new extension to the main school. A school-funded group room for individual tuition will also be housed in the new building.

The extension has been designed by the Faithful & Gould architectural practice to a brief drawn up by the County Council in conjunction with the school. It has been designed to be sympathetic to the local village architecture with its materials and colours, including Ashlar stone details for the walls, plain concrete tiles for the roof and white aluminium windows and doors. The building work will be carried out by the Kier Construction Group.

The county council’s spokesman for children and families, Cllr Frances Nicholson, said: “I’m very pleased that we’re delivering this new extension for SouthPethertonJuniorSchool.

“There is a growing demand for places within the South Petherton catchment area, and I’m sure this new build will be a very welcome development for staff and pupils.”

Dr Wyn Burke, chair of governors of South Petherton Junior School, said: “Thank you, on behalf of the head teacher, staff, children, parents and governors, for providing a much needed extension for our school.

“Such quality provision will not only enhance our current learning environment but facilitate plans for future teaching and learning initiatives as we respond to the needs of our expanding school community.”

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