Approval for new secondary school

A new secondary school for Newark has received planning permission.

Newark and Sherwood District Council granted consent for the The Suthers School, which is to be built on Fernwood Business Park.

The school, named after the late county councillor Martin Suthers, a champion of education, currently operates out of temporary buildings at Toot Hill School, Bingham, which is part of the same group of academies operated by the Nova Education Trust.

Head of the Suthers School, Andrew Pettit, said: "We are delighted to have received news that planning permission has been granted for the Suthers School.

"The start of construction signals the next exciting stage of our journey from opening in September 2017 to moving into our permanent school in the Autumn of 2019.

"Both students and staff are very excited at the prospect of watching our new school emerge over the coming months and we look forward to welcoming parents and the local community into our new school next year."

The plans for a three-storey school were submitted by Nottingham-based CPMG Architects.

Newark and Sherwood District Council has approved designs for the Nova Education Trust’s three-storey school, to be built on Fernwood Business Park.

At full capacity, the new building is set to hold 600 secondary pupils and 230 sixth formers.

The 7,220sq m has a traditional departmental structure focused around clustered hall spaces and centralised staff workrooms.

There are sports facilities for community use, staff pastoral offices, a distinct student support suite and a combined library and sixth form.

Martin Ford, associate group leader for CPMG Architects, said the facilities would be state-of-the-art.

“Similar to our other successfully designed schools, we will be using Bowmer and Kirkland’s ‘Configure Standard Design’ framework, which will deliver an exemplary teaching environment fully aligned with the Education Skills Funding Agency’s aspirations.

Bowmer & Kirkland regional director, Steve Chambers, said: “We have worked in the education sector for many years, but it is always very satisfying to build a new school which will offer improved facilities and help raise aspirations for a great many young people.”

The new development started this week and is set to be completed by July 29 of next year.

The Suthers School will expand by a year 7 group until it reaches full capacity with its sixth form.