News

Andrew Hardcastle attended the annual ‘A Brighter City of Derby’ awards ceremony on Friday 14^th February to receive a certificate from the Mayor of Derby.

The new Maple Park Centre, as named by pupils, has been singled out for praise, together with three restoration projects in the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage site.

Completed ahead of schedule by Wates Construction, the design for the new building is complete with the latest technology, underfloor heating, interactive whiteboards and extra wide corridors offering an inspiring learning environment fit for 21st Century teaching. There is also an extensive library, new administration offices and a large reception area, helping the school to increase its capacity by 550 pupil places.

The judges said that on entering the site, the new school’s appearance was enhanced and made more stimulating by the use of orange coloured highlights around the dark grey windows and door frames. The vibrant orange colour has been used successfully internally too and adopted on the cover of the new school brochure.

They also said: “The new classrooms were bright and comfortable and overall it was a well-designed and functional building that deserved to be recognised with an award.”

The project also received acknowledgement for extremely high standards in considerate construction, its positive contribution to the environment and efforts to engage with the local community.