New Ruddington learning village opens after St Peter’s school sudden closure
All 350 pupils are back together in a £6.5m temporary school built in record time on the Nottinghamshire site
Children say they are excited they get to see and play with their friends again after a new multi-million-pound learning village was opened in record time.
Their old school, St Peter’s C of E Junior School in Ruddington, was suddenly closed back in December after structural problems were discovered.
While officials say the risk was low, rot in the timber structural columns of the building meant they had no choice but to close it.
A matter of months later, all 350 pupils are now back learning together in a £6.5 million learning village, built on the grounds of the old school.
The learning village will be their school for the next two years while a project to rebuild the old one takes place.
Grace Anderson, who is in Year 3, said she was sent to two different schools before the new learning village opened. She said: “It feels really nice and if you’ve had friends in other years you can come back to them, and spend time with them and play with them.”
Reuben Sandhu, in Year 4, said: “I felt like I didn’t have any of my community together, and I felt really sad not to be with all my friends in different years.
“I feel really happy to be with my community again, all united, and I like being back to see the old school and this new school that has been built.”
Pippa Manders, in Year 4, added: “The school can join back together and I can see my friends from the other years.”
Furntiture and resources had to be moved out of the old building to different locations after a routine inspection found the wider problems with the structure itself.
Michael Bradley became the headteacher at the school just two months before the Covid lockdown in March 2020. He said it was key his pupils were not disrupted for a lengthy period of time as his school was hit with yet another blow.
“I’ve always said a school is much more than its buildings,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
“It is a community, there is a sense of belonging and it is a family. So to be separated, although it only lasted a few months, it was hard. The fact we were able to build this learning village in three months to get our community back together again was really important.
“It was extremely emotional. It was heartbreaking really. There were a lot of tears shed by the staff. A know a lot of the children were heartbroken.
“We are just glad really we have been able to take something that has been such a challenge, such a heartbreak, and create something exciting, hopeful and something that is going to provide us with a home for the next two years.”
Wayne Bexton, director of economy, environment and assets at Nottinghamshire County Council, added: “In December we had to take a decision no one wants to take to close St Peter’s and its original building. Through routine maintenance on the windows we uncovered structural problems, and of course we cannot live with any level of risk, even though the risk was low.
“So children went into other schools in the area. The community supported us fantastically, and we set sail on trying to achieve a record-breaking turnaround for this new learning village, which I am really proud to say, following starting work in January, we delivered this learning village ready to open its doors at Easter. It is the quickest turnaround of a learning village of this type in the UK – ever.”
The learning village was funded by the Government’s Department for Education. The costs of the rebuild is not yet known.