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25 January 2010 - Waltham Forest welcomes Buxton School
From 1 January this year, pupils from Tom Hood Community Science College came together with Cann Hall Primary to form the ‘all-through’ Buxton School.
Taking the step up from primary to secondary school is set to get a little bit easier for pupils at Buxton School in Leytonstone - which now will see pupils join the school from the age of three and benefit from nursery, primary and secondary education within the same school.
Excited by the new opportunities these changes bring, Julie Maltwood and Candice Dwight, co-Headteachers at Buxton School, said:
“This is a brand new era for the school, our governors and staff, our pupils, their parents and carers and local residents. Buxton School will be at the heart of our community by increasing choice, diversity and access – a place where everyone can learn.”
Buxton School is now also part of the ‘Buxton School Learning Trust’, which means the school now benefits from working with partner organisations that provide additional resources and expertise.
Buxton is at the heart of the new Trust with Acacia Children’s Centre and Jenny Hammond Primary (both from Leytonstone) along with NHS Waltham Forest, the University of East London and Waltham Forest Council.
The school is now able to work together with these partners in the Trust to share resources and provide more opportunities for pupils and staff
Project information
Cann Hall Primary and Tom Hood Community Science College have now come together to form an 'all through' Buxton School for pupils aged 3 to 16.
Buxton School is now also a part of a Trust, which means the school will be able to share resources with its Trust partner organisations and provide more varied opportunities for all its pupils and staff.
As part of Buxton School's new 'all through learning community', the former Cann Hall Primary School site will provide the primary education phase for Buxton, and the former Tom Hood Community Science College site will provide its secondary education phase.
As part of the school's ambition to provide increasing choice, diversity and access there will be:
- Special educational needs (SEN) places for children with speech and language and communication needs (SLCN);
- 60 places for ‘post-16’ education from September 2010, meaning pupils can gain further qualifications at the same school;
- An additional 30 places per year group within its primary phase (e.g. Reception to Year 6) from September 2012.
Under the BSF programme, the school's construction project aims to enhance existing school facilities through a new build for the former Tom Hood school site and refurbishments made in order to link the two school sites together.
Through this work, the school will look to enhance its learning and teaching spaces, and bring improvements to accessibility for pupils and its users and community, including school staff, parents/carers and local residents.
At this early stage, initial discussions between the school and the Council are taking place at the moment about the design of the site. Some of the main issues are about where the new school buildings can be based, and where the entrances and exits to the new school can be. This is to ensure there is safe access for pupils, and to resolve the current issues and difficulties relating to the narrow school entrance on Terling Close.
Benefits to the school and our young people
In 2008 the Sorrell Foundation worked with groups of pupils from both the former schools, to listen to their hopes and ambitions for the project.
The pupils, excited by the opportunities that this project brings, shared their ideas on how good design will improve the quality of life in their new 'all through' school.
Here you can view this work with the pupils:
Cann Hall Pupils' Brief (6.21MB PDF file)
Tom Hood Pupils' Brief (5.98MB PDF file)
Benefits to the community
It is intended as part of the school's role will be for it to become a centre for the community - a place where everyone can learn. The school is committed to working with the community to deliver the activities which are most useful and provide additional support. It is intended that the school will be:
- Open from early till late, 6 days a week and 50 weeks a year;
- Accessible for sports facilities and other accomodation for family learning;
- A hub for other services and agencies to use;
- Able to provide meeting rooms for parents.
Some of these documents are in PDF format. To view them you may need to download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
