There has been a considerable amount of interest over the last few months in the new Lane End Primary School, currently being built in Beeston on the site of the old South Leeds Sports Centre, and which will be part of The Learning Trust (South Leeds) group of schools.
The school will be ready to open its doors in mid-September this year, with provision for nursery age children as well as reception and year one pupils, in the first instance, and will be full by 2021. At present the school is in temporary accommodation at Cockburn School, and staff and pupils are looking forward to moving into their brand new school.
The school which has now been roofed in and glazed looks a little severe from the entrance side, but is deliberately designed so that most of the windows are on the side of the building facing away from the motorway – this side of the building has large windows, flooding the classrooms with light. By building the school in this way, noise from the motorway is kept to a minimum, and the playgrounds are on this side of the building as well.
The site includes a multi-use games area, which will be floodlit for winter use, and it is anticipated that there will be a popular demand for community use of this.
As well as classrooms, the school includes a large multi-purpose hall, ITC suite and a large self-contained area equipped for cookery classes. The school will also contain state of the art ICT equipment. There will be a nature area on site and, when completed, the grounds will be fully landscaped.
As part of the contract to build the school, new changing room facilities will be built just outside the school boundary, for teams using the adjoining playing fields.
It is expected that the school will soon become an important part of the community, and a number of its facilities will be available for use by local community groups.
The Learning Trust (South Leeds) is a partnership of seven local primary schools and one high school, and is responsible for educating a large number of the children in inner south Leeds. The Trust successfully bid for the new school against bids from other organisations which had little or no knowledge of the south Leeds area.
Newly appointed Headteacher Asa Britton said:
“The Reception age children and small team of staff that currently make up Lane End Primary School are very excited about our move into the new building. We are a happy little group of learners, along with very supportive families, who have enjoyed our time at the temporary site at Cockburn, but are looking forward to the new and exciting learning experiences that we will continue to have in our amazing new school.
“We are keen to become a focal and permanent part of the local community, and can’t wait to open our doors to our families, friends and neighbours near Lane End Primary School. It will be so lovely to invite new children and families into our school – to let them see how fabulous our existing pupils are, what great learning is going on each and every day, what wonderful new learning resources we will have, and how happy and safe we all feel at Lane End.
“We are also excited at being able to offer 3 year old Nursery places every morning and afternoon. If you have any questions about possible places for September 2015, in Year One, Reception or Nursery – please don’t hesitate to ring us on (0113) 385 7910. We are very much looking forward to meeting you all.”
