Autumn 2011
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Development
Update
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Fantastic summer progress on Yarm’s ambitious Early School project
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DevelopmentUpdate V
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New academic year brings a host of exciting developments After an extremely busy summer holiday period we were delighted to be able to start the new academic year with fantastic new classrooms and changing rooms in the riverside development, a refurbished state of the art chemistry lab, the yurt and a new staff car park. The auditorium is progressing well and should be ready by the end of the year. Externally, too, much landscaping has been carried
out, together with the creation of four of our new locker pods with the promise of many more to follow. Throughout the holidays the Estates Team and Miller worked tirelessly to get the new classrooms ready for the start of term and the teachers came back early from their summer holiday to move in. It was great to see the school community pulling together to ensure a smooth start to the term.
Mr Dunn with the Mayor of Stockton who opened the Dovecot
Some parents, visiting the school for uniform appointments in the late holidays doubted it would be! The hard working team proved them wrong! During the Summer Term we opened the Dovecote with a real celebration. The Dovecote Festival was a momentous occasion and we were blessed with probably the best sunshine of the summer! In 2078 the school community will come together once again to
open the time capsule we buried. I hope they have as much fun opening it as we did in selecting the memorabilia to go into the capsule. It was wonderful on that day to welcome back so many former pupils, who were quite amazed to see the developments.
David M Dunn Headmaster
Wonderland in the woodland The completed woodland timber yurt will be an excellent addition to outdoor education, curricular subjects and eco schools. Situated on the hill overlooking the Friarage, with a delightful wooden veranda, the facility nestles in the wooded area providing a safe but exciting area full of outdoor resources for fieldwork.
DevelopmentUpdate V
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Junior surveyors keep an eye on Early School At the end of the Summer Term work immediately started on the new Early School, which will be located adjacent to the White House Nursery. Miller Construction (UK) Ltd had won the tender for this phase and so were able to commence work straight away. The bungalow next to the Nursery, which the School had
owed for several years, was soon demolished to make way for the substantial extension to the Southern aspect of the White House. Once the building was demolished the site was cleared and the scale of the extension became evident. The pile foundations and ground beams have been laid and the brick work
has already commenced. The steel will be arriving shortly and the structure will soon be visible. The two storey building will accommodate six generously sized classrooms for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, a studio hall for assemblies and a library. The ground floor classrooms will each have fantastic outside verandas facilitating external class work. The gardens around the Nursery and Early Years will be landscaped
to provide an ideal play area with a wide range of equipment to facilitate investigation, exploration and learning through play. The relocation of the Early Years will create space for further redevelopment of the Preparatory School site. We look forward to being able to demolish the old wooden classrooms! The Early School project is due for completion by next Easter.
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DevelopmentUpdate V
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A room with a view: and green too The picture perfect riverside classroom suite was completed for the start of the Autumn Term. Externally, the building looks modern, sleek and high spec, and from the inside there is only one word to describe it – stunning. Each classroom benefits from picture window views over the river Tees and the farmland beyond. With teachers and pupils in awe of the view, you would think it would be difficult to get work done. However, with interactive whiteboards, widescreen 3D teaching televisions and a superb sound system in each room, we have not had to worry. The new classroom suite houses the English, Modern Languages, Business Studies, Economics and Learning
Support Departments. There is a magnificent, double height dance studio, with full height picture windows, mirrors, a junkers sprung floor and fabulous sound and light system. There are also indoor and outdoor changing rooms for PE/ sport, together with a PE/sport classroom and offices. The whole riverside development will be heated by fourteen 110m deep ground source heat pumps, which will be able to maintain a constant 20 degrees of heat. The water in the building will be heated by solar panels. The only cost for heating the entire building will be the small amount of electricity used to pump the heating. All lights in the building dim and turn off automatically responding to brightness levels and all taps are on timed flow
controls.
Space to learn: the riverside classrooms have stunning views over the River Tees
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DevelopmentUpdate V
Science laboratory refurbishment
Earlier in the year the school was visited by Sir Eric Ash of the Wolfson Trust and we successfully secured matched funding to refurbish an existing chemistry laboratory. Sciences are popular subject choices at the school and with strong academic results the newly refurbished laboratory is a welcomed addition. The old classroom was dismantled over the summer, with the benches that came down from the old Senior School site on Grammar School Lane thrown out to make room for the new. The refurbished classroom provides a modern and up to date facility, which is designed to utilise the space to enable more individual practical work at Sixth Form level. The benches are arranged in a u-shape allowing interaction and class discussion. Further monies have been secured to assist with the relocation of the Lecture Theatre and refurbishment of our oldest ICT room over the next 12 months.
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DevelopmentUpdate V
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Auditorium takes shape
‘…it is guaranteed to be the best performance venue in the region’ Now that the riverside classroom suite has been completed, Miller will turn their full attention to the auditorium and external landscaping, with a view to full completion by the end of the year. The zinc roof has been installed allowing internal works on the performance hall to go ahead now it is weather tight. The gallery section of the performance hall is ready for the installation of the seats and the impressive gantries have been erected. The seating within the performance hall will be retractable by electric motor to create a space for functions, as well the less glamorous purpose of exams! The organ for the performance hall was a bespoke design ordered from Italy. It is now been built and is in the country awaiting installation. Mr Brown, Director of Music and organ scholar, has been able to test the organ and has reported back, “It is superb. I am looking forward to when the organ is installed so the pupils can benefit from playing and/or listening to it.” The oak clad performance hall is designed to produce first class acoustics and with a bespoke, high specification organ it is guaranteed to be the best performance venue in the region. The glass for the atrium is currently being installed and, once complete, the external riverside exterior will look extremely impressive. The high specification cafe equipment and furniture for the atrium has been ordered. This area will be a licensed coffee bar during the day and will provide an interval and space for performances.
DevelopmentUpdate V
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Appeal climbs to £123,000 Thank you to the many members of the school community who have made generous donations to our Going for Gold appeal. We have now raised over £123,000 through personal donations, business sponsorship and various Going for Gold initiatives. Mr & Mrs H S Ahn Mrs A Allick Dr I P & Dr K Appleyard Mr R A Brown Mr S Calvert Dr P M Chapman Mr & Mrs S Dodds Mr & Mrs D M Dunn
Mr & Mrs D V G Dunn Mr P Edmondson Ms Catherine Evans Rev Dr M & Mrs J Gilbertson Dr C A Gill Dr & Mrs J A Hall Mr & Mrs N Hunter Mr & Mrs H B Jenyns Mr & Mrs K Jones Dr & Mrs Langford Mr D S Law Mr & Mrs M A Maiter Dr R J & Dr N B Miller Dr J P O’Donoghue & Dr P S Burrows Mr & Mrs S Park Mr & Mrs Petch Mrs L Perry
Mr & Mrs J G F Potter The Roy Family Dr R S Sagoo Mr & Mrs J R H Sale Mr & Mrs Sampson Dr A & Mrs S Shyam-Sundar Dr & Mrs S Stockley Mr & Mrs A M Teague Mr & Mrs A Waite Sir Harry & Lady Susan Wilmot Amazon Link Donors GfG event donors Sodexo S. James the Great Parochial Church Council Yarm School Parent Association
Sponsor a seat…
The auditorium will be the perfect venue for hosting the School’s excellent dramatic productions, as well as exceptional music concerts. It is where all major school events will take place.
Seating for audiences of up to 750 has created the unique opportunity for parents, past and present pupils, and friends of the school to mark their support of the development by sponsoring a seat. Sponsor a Seat leaflets are available from the School Office.
…leave your legacy
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Yarm Preparatory School Grammar School Lane Yarm TS15 9ES Email: prepschool@yarmschool.org Telephone: 01642 781447
Yarm School The Friarage Yarm TS15 9EJ Email: admin@yarmschool.org Telephone: 01642 786023
Yarm at Raventhorpe 96 Carmel Road North Darlington DL3 8JB Email: yar@yarmschool.org Telephone: 01325 463373
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