Kentish Express Ashford & District
Horseshoe-shaped primary school is now coming to life
Construction work underway at £5.5m school
Construction is underway on a striking £5.5m horseshoe-shaped school with a living ‘green’ roof that is to open in September.
Children and teachers at Benenden Primary School are set to swap their crumbling building, parts of which date back to the 17th century, for a state-ofthe-art learning environment.
Designed by Canterbury-based Clague architects and being built by Kier, the project has been funded through the second wave of the government’s Priority Schools Building Programme.
Parents have long campaigned for a new building, even holding a demonstration outside the school on The Green, as there is no main hall and the separate reception class doubles up as a canteen, while sports lessons take place in the village hall and assemblies are held at St George’s church.
The building, which next to Glebe field, behind Benenden vil- lage hall, has been eight years in the design and planning.
Head teacher Gill Knox said: “I’m absolutely thrilled by the progress being made on the new building. It’s been a long time coming and the children and staff have been very patient.
“They will have a fit-for-purpose building that will help take the school from [Ofsted] good to outstanding.”
Once constructed it will accommodate 210 pupils, 40 more than are on roll at present. Classrooms are curved to fit around the horseshoe shape, which will have a hall at one end and an early years classroom at the other. There is a central courtyard and covered walkway.
The school playground will be marked out as a multi use games area (MUGA).
In a nod to tradition the school hall features a plain clay tiled roof and will have the appearance of a Kentish Barn, through the use of untreated oak cladding which will naturally weather to blend in with the green surroundings.
Stuart Bonnage, a partner at Clague, said: “With the building on a greenfield site adjacent to the village hall and recreation ground at the heart of Benenden, the design brief was a challenging one.
“The school’s main building dates back to 1604 and King James I and with it all situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty (AONB), the design of the new school had to make a minimal visual impact on the local area.”
Featuring a biodiverse ‘green’ roof, a wildflower meadow area is also to be created on site.