Village school bids for more classrooms
A VILLAGE school is looking to expand by creating four new classrooms on the edge of its playing fields.
The modular block would cater for the increasing pupil roll at Saint Martin’s Catholic Voluntary Academy in Stoke Golding.
A similar classroom unit was completed last year and the proposal is to site a matching single storey block next to it, close to a tree-line.
A planning application has been submitted to Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council seeking permission for the addi- tional development.
A supporting statement in the submission says: “The new classroom block is sited in line with the existing adjacent buildings, such that it is sufficiently far away from the existing tree and at the same time not impinging on the playing field area of the school. The landscaping to the adjacent buildings is also retained with this layout.”
Saint Martin’s was established in 1948 by the Dominican Sisters of St Catherine of Siena based in King William’s Town, South Africa, as an independent girl’s school, Blessed Martin in the Fields at Stoke Stoke Golding.
Although now a state funded Catholic academy, the school grounds and buildings are still owned by the Dominicans.
The site of Stoke Lodge convent and school was adjacent to the current site. The present school building was constructed in 1963 in the grounds and now caters for boys and girls aged 11 to 16. It has more than 600 pupils.
Due to poor condition of the old building it was demolished in 1971 and a new convent was built. This was finally closed in 2011 and much of the land sold for housing. Lodge,