The three things that 15-year-old Alan Amin most disliked about his school before it was remodelled were the toilets ("not up to scratch"), the dull, dark corridors, and the fact that the football pitch was surrounded by stinging nettles ("so you couldn't get the ball out").
The Leicester school was built in 1935 as Newark girls' grammar school, with 450 pupils. After various modifications, in the late 1990s it became Fullhurst community college, an 11-16 comprehensive, with double the number of students. When Michael McPherson took over as head two years ago, the school was no longer "fit for purpose".
"It felt cramped," he says. "The corridors and stairwells were restricted, and although some of the classrooms were bigger than are required now, some were significantly smaller. Opportunities for small group work or the personalised curriculum were just not available."
Designs were already underway for an additional building, attached to the main school by a walkway, but McPherson and his staff were not satisfied. "The plans did not meet our educational vision," he says. "This is a school facing challenging circumstances: we wanted to do something quite transformational."
What they came up with, courtesy of Miller Construction, was a £12m partial rebuild plus a refurbishment of existing facilities which is due to be completed by October next year. The school retains its 1930s red-brick facade and clock tower, which McPherson says is "quite iconic within the local community", but this now becomes the back of the school.
At the front stands a new three-storey extension with a striking glazed facade. The original school hall, to be restored to 1930s decor, projects out of the old building and into the new, its outer walls in the new building painted lime green.
"We don't want to get rid of the old school because there are memories there," says Helen Carvell, aged 15.
The new building, which opens in January 2009, increases teaching and circulation space, with wide corridors and new stairwells, while the smaller rooms in the old building will be used for music practice, special needs teaching and offices.
"The new corridors look really magnificent," says pupil Alan Amim, who is also delighted with the new football pitch surrounded by a high fence.
Helen Carvell is looking forward to new toilets, faster computers and "brighter colours to help lift the mood of students. "I think it will be more cheerful," she says. "It'll be a nice, new atmosphere."
Weblink
Fullhurst community college: fullhurst.leicester.sch.uk/
Miller Construction: www.construction.miller.co.uk
