The new teaching accommodation block has been completed and the school is now fully occupying all the rooms. This project was awarded to the school via the ESFA Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) where the school submitted a bid justifying the reason for the bid.  In our circumstance we were able to justify this by removing 3 demountable buildings that were nearing end of life and had out of date heating, cooling and environmental safety and security systems and visually not in keeping with the rest of the school.

The project completed 7 months later than the original finish date due to COVID-19. This is still a great achievement by the contractor considering the 3 breaks in the project due to COVID-19 lock-downs and manufactures constraints on products. The feedback from staff and students is very positive with the up to date systems controlling the environment and a modern environment to aid teaching and learning.

The new building houses 8 classrooms, 3 offices, 1 training/meeting room, a toilet area and storage facilities. This has shown the school's commitment to its staff and students and will be a welcome addition to the school, especially for prospecting parents and students wanting to come to Blackfen in the future. The 3 demolished buildings were Drama, Science lab and Textiles.  Along with the new build, we refurbished 2 new Drama rooms and a Science Lab (see images below) and was able to move Textiles closer to the faculty.  By aligning subjects to bring them closer to their faculties has eased the burden on staff and students having to walk a long way across the school to get to their next lesson.