ISS
NEW CLASSROOM BLOCK OPENS
Last May we closed the doors on the Junior Year 3,4,5 and 6 classrooms and handed the building over to Vijay Construction for complete refurbishment of the existing ground floor, as well as the construction of an upper floor, comprising an office suite, new computer suite, and three new classrooms – two for the secondary and sixth form sections and one for the 5/6 extension class. At the same time the ‘evicted’ Junior classes were re-housed in secondary rooms freed by the departing Year 11 and Year 13 examination groups.
As the construction crew moved onto site many
people doubted that the project would be completed in the three months
that we had available. We knew that on September 5th we would
have a full school to accommodate and that there could be no room for
delay in opening the (new) doors.
At this point praise is due to Vijay Construction for the manner in which the project was completed ahead of time and to a standard of finishing that has impressed and delighted everyone at our school. Apart from more than doubling the floor space the project – designed by Daniella Morel and engineered by Joe Pool, both parents of children at the school – has resulted in new hardwood, double-glazed and uv-filtered windows for every room, as well as air-conditioning, new fitted cupboards and wet areas and electrical and internet systems.
Upstairs Heads of Section offices were handed over,
complete with internet and printing facilities. Next door we now have
two very substantial secondary/sixth form classrooms which will
accommodate all of the school’s public examinations in future. Moving
along the upper corridor we next reach the Early Childhood/Junior ICT
suite. This houses 28 workstations, colour and tone laser printing and
projector facilities. The facility will be used by classes from
Reception 1 to year 9 and will free up time in the established computer
suite for more cross-curricular work (before, we only had one fully
equipped Computer room so all classes had to use the same facility).
Finally we come to the extension year 5/6 classroom, relocated from the old SPPF building that has given us such good service during the last three years. This small class accommodates 12 children.
The completion of the building marks an important
further development for the school. By half term we will have every
teaching area in the school air-conditioned, with all accommodation
purpose-built for specific educational functions. I do hope that you are
as pleased with the finished building as your children and their
teachers are. We shall be officially opening the building shortly after
half-term and hope to see you then. A final word of thanks for everyone
who contributed to this phase of ISS development:
- The elected Board of Governors, for initiating the development process, negotiating finance, and generally going far beyond the call of duty to ensure that the project was a success.
- Daniella Morel, for designing such a marvellous building within the constraints of existing ground floor facilities.
- Barclays Bank, for the provision of finance
- Teachers and students of the International School, for the manner in which they coped with the temporary accommodation during construction, their enthusiasm for the project and the hundred and one ways in which they contributed to its realisation.
- Vijay Construction, for completing the building ahead of time, with the minimum of disruption to the school, and for the manner in which the quality of materials and finishes used were so often significantly above the specifications listed in the contract! (Also thanks for fixing the access road Vijay!)
- The Administration team at the school, for efficiently and effectively dealing with literally hundreds of issues during the course of construction.
- The parents for their flexibility and support throughout the project, and for endorsing the Board’s recommendation to build in the first place.
- The school PTA, for completely funding the purchasing of new computers for the Early Childhood/Junior facility.
- And finally the school cleaners, whose difficult job was made immeasurably more difficult by the additional dirt and dust created during the construction process.
Mr Martin Kennedy
Headteacher