Construction work has begun to expand a grammar school to cater for boom in pupil numbers.
Borden Grammar School in the Avenue of Remembrance, Sittingbourne, has already increased its intake for Year 7 over the past two years, boosting numbers from 120 to 150 boys a year. But space is so sparce that pupils have had to have lessons in two mobile classrooms.
Kier Group has been awarded the £6.975m contract to build a two-storey teaching block including specialist classrooms for science and IT, staff rooms and a three-court sports hall, which will take just over a year to complete.
Since the project was first mooted, additional investment has been made in the school including solar panels on the roof, artwork along a new sports hall and better drainage using a soakaway.
Rory Love, Kent County Council’s cabinet member for education and skills, said: “I am delighted to see this permanent expansion of Borden Grammar get under way. The demand in Swale for extra secondary school places has required an increase in both the selective and non-selective provision”.
this will help meet the demand for grammar school places
Kent County Council has blamed the increased demand for places on a boom in births from 2008 to 2012, more people moving to the area and new families because of extra house building. Education bosses admit the situation has been made worse because hundreds of pupils from Sheppey are also schooled in Sittingbourne every day. This is due to the islands only secondary school receiving an extremely bad Ofsted report last year.
The problem has also been exacerbated by the growth in new housing estates, bringing in more people and families to the area.
