Haydon Bridge Sixth Form Centre is now complete!…

The redesign of Haydon Bridge High School’s Sixth Form Centre and Learning Resource Centre is now complete and has been officially opened to students!

Northumberland County Council awarded GRADONARCHITECTURE the £4.5 million redesign of the School and the Headteacher, pupils and Council members are delighted to now be opening the new facilities for students to use for the academic year. The relocated Sixth Form Centre occupies the former learning resource space and offices and having completed a full refurbishment of the space, the area is now a spacious, well lit and contemporary learning environment for students to partake in independent and group study as well as socialise with peers. The facilities include a new fitted kitchen for students to use, redesigned seating spaces, state of the art computer working areas and a refurbished interior design.

Modern kitchens have been fitted to provide independent catering facilities for pupils.
Refurbished computer suites.

Work elsewhere on site is also continuing, with the initial internal demolitions being completed at the new Vocational Centre. This facility will cater for the wider selection of educational subjects which will be offered to students including Engineering, Hairdressing and Catering. The new learning facility will also be available outside of School hours as an adult learning centre, helping to support those in the wider community. A new boulevard entrance, coach drop off area and MUGA (multi-use games area) will also form part of the final design, creating better access to the site and both retaining and utilising the existing space as outdoor activity areas for the pupils.

Redesigned boulevard entrance providing better and safer access onto site.
Sketch showing the new entrance to the vocational centre.

These plans were unveiled at last weeks open evening where Headteacher Darren Glover and Graeme Kirkley and Craig Dickinson from the Gradon team spoke to prospective students and parents about the proposed plans, along with a walk through video showing how the School site will look once works are complete.

Technical Director Graeme Kirkley said, “We are delighted to have completed works on the Sixth Form Centre and Learning Resource Centre as both areas were in need of a full refurbishment to cater for the needs of the pupils. The new areas provide stimulating, supporting and functional learning environments where the talented students of Haydon Bridge will be able to excel. The latest development reflects the success of what our redesign has achieved so far and we are continuing to make good progress across the rest of the site!”