Giant window of opportunity
Reporter: KAREN DOHERTY
Date published: 06 April 2011
First glimpse of the spectacular £16m Oldham Academy North
THESE are the first images of the new £16 million school which will open in Royton in September, 2013.
The three-storey Oldham Academy North building has three wings with large windows and a glazed entrance which principal Colette Burgess said would put “teaching and learning on show”.
It is being built on the Broadway/Rochdale Road corner of the current Our Lady’s High School site.
Facilities inside include a central agora — a large, open space — which can be used for performances, lectures, assemblies and informal seating. Outside there are multi-use games areas, cricket, football and hockey pitches, two running tracks, field athletics, a basketball shooting area and allotments.
Ms Burgess said that many of the facilities would be available for the community to use. Part of the library will also be open to the pubic.
She explained: “What we have got here is a building fit for the education we want to deliver now. What it offers is flexibility and we can do lots of different and creative things in terms of the inside spaces.
“The building has also been designed with the community in mind and it is going to look like you are being welcomed by the arms of the building.”
Oldham Academy North replaced Grange School in September and is currently operating in the existing buildings.
Its capacity will rise from 825 to 1,200 pupils when it moves into the new school, with a larger catchment area increasing the Year 7 intake from 165 to 240.
The site includes the current Our Lady’s sixth form building, which will remain open during the construction.
This means that Our Lady’s pupils will not have to use portable cabins while their new Catholic high school, due to open in Broadway in September 2012 is completed
