Bulford st leonards school opening

MP Claire Perry opens new school building at Bulford St Leonards School

Loud cheers and excited clapping from pupils and staff celebrated the opening of a new school building at Bulford St Leonard’s school on Friday.

Pupils, teachers, parents, governors, Wiltshire Council and builders Kier Construction, all involved in the project from design to creation, were invited to attend the official opening ceremony.

Before cutting the ribbon and declaring the building officially open, Devizes MP Claire Perry pledged her continued support for the Bulford school and encouraged the pupils and their families to take full advantage of all the opportunities that the new building would bring them.

Claire Perry said:

This new building is a brilliant thing for a wonderful school and is a real marker of confidence in the future rebasing, making sure you have all you need to welcome these people.

Bulford St Leonard’s new school has been built in readiness for the Army’s rebasing of three regiments and their families from Germany to the Salisbury Plain – with the arrival of 5 Rifles this summer and further regiments following over the next three years.
Currently the school has 243 places available aged four to 11 years, this new building will allow the school to expand to offer 315 places


Head teacher Sarah Ward
said:

Pupil numbers in the Salisbury Plain area are set to rise dramatically, this fabulous new building means not only do we have outstanding new facilities, we also have space to grow gradually, and get used to how the school works for us all, as we expand over the next three years.

Governors, staff and pupils have all had a hand in the design and workings of the new school, which is based on an off-site modular building technique and was finished from inception in 21 weeks and within its £1.5 million project budget.

The younger pupils have even been ‘beta’ testing the internal doors, to make sure that they’re not too heavy for smaller children to open.

The new building will house three extra classrooms, offices and meeting rooms as well as one-to-one spaces and a creative studio and includes a platform lift to allow full accessibility.

It is a ‘breathing building’ with natural ventilation and also incorporates solar power and rainwater harvesting for flushing the toilets.

Richard Gamble Wiltshire Council Portfolio Holder for Education, Skills and Youth, said:

I’m delighted to attend the opening of this much needed additional space at this thriving school.

We’ve worked closely with the staff and governors as they welcome more children into the school – both service children and additional families moving into the area.

The facilities provided will ensure the excellent work carried out by this school can continue in surroundings which will give each child the best opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential.


Tom Lindsay, Education Officer
(Primary) at Wiltshire County Council recently put the school places’ need into context.

The Salisbury Plain area needs to provide 1,200 extra school places for 2019; we anticipate 800 of these additional places will be for primary school aged children, this is the largest rebasing of military personnel since the Second World War, he said.

The school also has a 52 place nursery which is unaffected by the new development.

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