Words by Ed King / Pics by Ed King & Nandini Gill
On Thursday 26 January, Queensbury School officially launched their new £2.3m school building – which has been operational for students since the latter part of the autumn term 2022.
Queensbury School – situated on Wood End Road, Erdington – received panning consent in September 2021 for the redevelopment of their existing school site, breaking ground later that year.
Now part of the Education Impact Academy Trust (EIAT), alongside Wilson Stuart School, Queensbury delivered their new build in November last year – only a few thousand pounds over budget, despite delays and supplier strangleholds due to Covid-19.
Welcoming school governors, academy members, and partners from the Local Authority, this week Queensbury School Executive Headteacher Chris Wilson introduced a “new beginning” for the Erdington Special Educational Needs (SEN) school – which had previously been rated ‘Inadequate’ in its last Ofsted report.
“It will allow a bit of time, and a bit of space,” continued Mr Wilson, explaining how the sensory concerns of their students had been pivotal in the project – with Queensbury’s School Council even designing the new play area between the school hall and new facility.
A special address was then given by Steve Hughes, the erstwhile CEO of Education Impact Academy Trust, who told how the Local Authority once asked him “has this school (Queensbury) got a future,” and how “this is now a school to be proud of.”
A presentation of artwork celebrating the Lunar New Year, short stories, and poems – all signifying “new beginnings” – was then made by Queensbury students, before the official ribbon cutting and tour of the new school site.
Housing seven new classrooms, the new build had further been “futureproofed” by extending floor space to allow more space and flexibility in the immediate teaching environment. National guidelines recommend a minimum of 52m² for up to 30 students, whilst the new classrooms at Queensbury School are 63m² for no more than 12 students.
Alongside enhanced facilities for direct teaching, there are three new ‘calm rooms’ where students can use music or sport therapy to work through overriding emotions – alongside an isolated ‘work room’ for those needing extra space to focus on their studies.
Each ‘calm room’ has special LED lighting to encourage emotional equilibrium, whilst all the classroom lights are on variable dimmers to allow for a variety of sensory responses from the students.
Queensbury now also had a dedicated ‘therapy room’, for more one to one attention, and a ‘confidentiality room’ where a team of eight mentors can engage with families, parents, and carers. In the previous school layout, all these pastoral activities had been conducted wherever there was available space, with the school’s mentoring team based “technically in a shed.”
Queensbury also now has extended areas for outside play, where children can get the benefits of an outdoor environment – a powerful positive to Mr Wison – and engage with the school’s three ‘therapy dogs’: Eddison, Henry, and Odie.
Queensbury School became part of the Education Impact Academy Trust (EIAT) in September 2021, after plotting a course towards becoming an academy several years earlier. Alongside Wilson Stuart School (Erdington), Hive Collage (Erdington), and Mayfield School (Lozells), Queensbury School is one of four SEN and SEND providers in the Multi Academy Trust portfolio.
With capacity for 276 students at the Wood Lane site, Queensbury School caters for young people from 11 to 19 – with plans to extend their 6th Form provision with a new site on Station Road, hoping to welcome 96 new students into further education in the next academic year.
Queensbury’s current Executive Headteacher, Chris Wilson, began working with the school in November 2018, “falling in love” with the Erdington SEN provider and eventually taking over the top spot.
Steering Queensbury through difficult waters, inducing the threat of closure and a damning Ofsted report, Mr Wilson is now confident in a bright future for the once troubled school – explaining how the new development quite simply “gives the staff the tools they need” to offer the best educational experience.
Mr Wilson continued: “The new building gives us the facilities and the resources for our students and staff to allow them to unleash their limitless potential and create further opportunities for many years to come.
“It’s opening the creativity of the teachers back up, because they’ve got more space to work with and an environment that’s right, and no doubt that will lead to better outcomes for the students – as well as our students being proud. It was very difficult to make them proud of the school when the building was in such a dilapidated state.
“They haven’t got that now, and that means when they take their place in society those preparation for adult skills are fostered within them and integral to their values as well.”
For more on Queensbury School visit www.queensburysch.com