Secondary Education

Acklam COmbined-1

Acklam Grange School opened in September 2010, it caters for approximately NOR1400 students year 7 through year 11.  It was the first school to be constructed under the Middlesbrough BSF Project and involved the construction of a new school made up of six, 2 storey blocks with covered walkways linking the new blocks all built within the grounds of an existing school and the original 1950’s school buildings were demolished on completion of the new school. We covered RIBA work stages B to K under direct works for the contractor-developer. Pupil involvement in the building included landscaping, and the naming of areas through schemes such as the School Council and a specially-formed “Team 2010” group. The design layout focused on the specialism and technical management of the school program as well as the BB guidelines; high quality Business and ICT spaces located at the front of the school to showcase the specialism.  Traffic zones created to allow parents to drop off and collect pupils without causing disruption to local traffic and residents.  The school leadership team identified that a significant minority of students had poor or insufficient diets. It was a fundamental aim of the school management team to high quality meals of nutritional value at a suitable price.  A decision was taken to include a large and welcoming dining hall (sacrificing areas within other parts of the school) to enable students to purchase and eat good food on site. Approximately 50% more students purchase meals compared with the former school and the impact on attainment and behaviour has been remarkable as students now enter lessons fed and hydrated, ready to learn. The design tram listened to the school concerning design strategies to reduce bullying and the School Business Manager noted that incidents of poor behaviour that needed the intervention of a member of the Senior Leadership Team had fallen by 90% compared with the old school. BREEAM Very Good.