Castle Donington
VOLUNTEER CENTRE APPEAL. Extra helpers are needed to continue to run vital services at Castle Donington Volunteer Centre. The Volunteer Centre say that as they resume activities after Covid disruptions, they “are seeing an increasing demand for our Medicar services, general transport and social gatherings.”
Therefore, they need more volunteers for medical car and minibus drivers, passenger assistants, social event volunteers and general helpers.
They recognise that volunteers have busy lives “so the more volunteers we have to call on the less we impose on those that do the help.”
NEW SCHOOL. Castle Donington’s new primary school. – given the name Foxbridge after a popular vote involving a larger number of local people – will open later this year.
The school name, the fox is an animal which is synonymous with being resourceful, proud, and family orientated. Foxbridge Primary School will grow over the years to become its very own family of staff, parents and pupils. The animal also has strong links to Leicestershire, which the school will come under in terms of a local authority”
Miss Inderjit Sandhu OBE, the Chief Executive Officer of Scholars Academy Trust, commented: “To many an outsider, Castle Donington is an airport and a race-track. Yet to those of us who know the village better, it holds a special place in our hearts as a large yet quaint English village with many a charming feature.”
She continued:” Longstanding ‘dwellers’ (Donington is believed to have derived from the old Saxon word ‘Duningas’ meaning ‘hill dwellers’) of the village enjoy the local farmers market, the traditional shops on Borough Street and the village museum.”
“Foxbridge Primary School, along with the new housing development on which it is located, may bring in new residents to the village who are unaware of its heritage. Therefore, we wanted to create a badge which symbolises and teaches both the history of this beautiful village, whilst also embracing the modern, 21st century design of our school.”
Following an initial round of consultation with parents and carers who had shown an interest in Foxbridge for their child, the four possible logo consultation was opened to the wider local community.
Foxbridge Primary School is a brand new, purpose-built primary school based in Castle Donington and is going to be open to children aged between 4-11yrs from September 2022.
Situated on the west of Castle Donington village, the new site will meet the demand for places from the 895 new homes being built on the new development and adjoining areas. It is being constructed directly by contractors acting on behalf of the housing developers, Redrow & Miller Homes, in partnership with North West Leicestershire County Council.
Large classrooms alongside breakout rooms, both with plenty of light, will give a very modern feeling to the school’s layout. Designed by architects, taking inspiration from airport architecture and aviation themes, the building design is very much geared towards this being a state-of-the-art learning environment for the children.
Once full, Foxbridge Primary school will be home to 210 pupils. In the first instance, the school will open with only Reception age group, and will then grow incrementally.
To build links with the local community both the school name and the logo have been chosen though consultation with the local people.
Foxbridge will be part of the Scholars Academy Trust, a multi academy trust including Launde Primary School in Oadby and Glenfield Primary School.
Construction work is currently “on schedule” for the completion of Castle Donington’s new primary school in July later this year
Following a consultation with parents and the local community the new school was named Foxbridge Primary School. To further embed the school in its local community, Scholars Academy Trust asked local people to select an appropriate logo for the school
The structure for the building has been erected, the roof cladding has been laid and the interior layout and colour schemes have been agreed.
The new £4.2 million facility boast a football pitch, soft social area, playground, hard games court and a habitat area. Plans are also in place to install two car charging ports in 24-space car park, acknowledging the increasing use of electric vehicles.
The school is being built to provide school places for children who move into a new 895 home development in the town.
Construction firms Miller Homes, Redrow PLC and Clowes Developments UK were charged with funding the new school by Leicestershire County Council when planning permission was granted for the new homes, amid fears that existing schools would not be able to cope with the extra pupils from the estate.
National contractor, Seddon, is building the new school in Welston Road.
The site will also be lined with trees and a high fence in a bid to make sure the new building blends into the landscape.
Work, which was scheduled to begin in June 2020 but was delayed due to Covid-19, is expected to be completed in July 2022.
The new school is part of Scholars’ Academy Trust and the Trust organised both face-to-face and Zoom consultation meetings for prospective parents and the local community.
The Scholars’ Trust application deadline is March 25, 2022 and this date is different from the local authority common application deadline of January 15, 2022.
The development is on an area of land positioned to the west of Castle Donington and north of East Midlands Airport.
On completion the development site will also include employment land and a new single carriageway Western Relief Road on land to the north and south of Park Lane.
The one-form entry school will cater for children aged four to 11 years and will open with a class of foundation aged children, the youngest pupils in the school. Older age groups of children will be added in later years.
Scholars Academy Trust was formed in 2013 and it includes the 640-pupil Launde Primary School in Oadby and Glenfield Primary School which has 450 pupils on roll. Launde has been graded “outstanding” by OFSTED since 2011 and Glenfield was rated as “good” in 2017.
Newly-appointed headteacher at the Castle Donington school is Mrs. Pamela Bridgwood, who was previously Deputy Headteacher at Desford Community Primary School in Leicestershire.
Mrs. Bridgwood has held a number of leadership roles at Desford School, including being the Early Years Leader as well as the Deputy Head.
Curriculum materials are currently being developed by the headteacher and senior leaders at the Scholars ’ Trust “to best reflect Castle Donington and the new development.”
Miss Inderjit Sandhu, OBE, the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Headteacher of Scholars Trust said that she was very pleased with the parental and community response during the consultation process.
Currently there are two primary schools in Castle Donington – St. Edwards Church of England Primary with 199 pupils on roll and Orchard Community Primary with a roll of 265 pupils.