However, such great popularity and success comes with its
own set of challenges, and we now lack sufficient teaching
space to house our current pupils, let alone new ones, as we
anticipate a year-on-year rise in the near future. Currently, our
regular classrooms are cramped and the temporary portacabin
classrooms located along Giles Lane have become pressed into
regular use.
Not only are they ill equipped to successfully offer the very
high standard of education that St Edmund’s is known
for, they are not in keeping with the otherwise picturesque
aesthetic for which the school is celebrated, and which pupils
past and present identify with and hold close to their hearts.
As a boarder, what I love about
St Edmund’s is the tender loving care that
underpins everyone’s experience here; it’s
just like home. Although the priority of
the staff is to teach us effectively, we also
have a lot of fun – it’s just a really friendly
place that’s set up to prepare all its pupils
for the real world.”
Will, pupil
We see this, however, not as an impossible problem to solve,
but simply an obstacle to surmount. Our solution? Initially, the
1st phase of our Academic Hub will be a brand new, light and
spacious building housing seven classrooms that will give our
pupils the space they need to learn and be inspired to the best
of their abilities.
Upon completion of this stage, the 2nd phase will be the
creation of further classrooms, the whole of the Hub centred
around a courtyard, thus joining up both phases to stand
in equal beauty and stature to those that currently exist
throughout our grounds.