£9m modernisation scheme for city high school unveiled to £9m improvements

Coun Jackie Drayton, the newly-elected Labour administration’s children’s services spokesman said on Wednesday that Birley Community College would be rebuilt with work beginning shortly.

Yesterday £9m plans for the city’s Notre Dame School were also unveiled, meaning that the Fulwood-based Catholic high school will see existing buildings modernised and a new block built.

Welcoming the announcement yesterday, headteacher John Martin said: “This school is well known for its very special warm ethos which is recognised by all who visit the school.

“To be able to expand on this with modern, brand new facilities to complement our existing school building is wonderful news.”

Notre Dame will be the 16th school to be developed under Sheffield’s £350m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme run by a local education partnership (LEP) made up of Sheffield Council and VINCI Construction UK.

The £55bn BSF drive was introduced by the Labour government to improve every secondary school in the country, but was scrapped as unaffordable by the Tories when they were elected last year.

Sheffield’s programme escaped unscathed because it was advanced to “financial close”.

Barnsley’s projects will also continue for the same reason, but 22 schools in Doncaster and seven in Rotherham have been told that funding has been withdrawn for refurbishment projects.

Coun Drayton added: “It is great to see the Building Schools for the Future programme taking off across the city. The fruits of the council and the LEP’s labour are really starting to show now with many of our city’s schools already being refurbished or rebuilt to very high standards.

“I am very pleased to see Notre Dame is now going to be given the same treatment and I hope this will help both staff and pupils at the school now and in the future.”

The Notre Dame project, which will begin this month will be completed over four phases with the final hand-over programmed for February 2013.