TV show school set for move to new building
CARDIFF’S Willows High School could move into a new building within three years, it has emerged.
The Tremorfa School, which in 2015 featured on Channel 4’s Educating Cardiff, has received its latest Estyn report, and is one of the schools listed for work as part of a major investment in city schools.
It is hoped that the new-build school could be completed by September 2021 and would see the school expand by 300 places, accommodating up to 1,200 Year 7 to Year 11 pupils.
With exam results improving and the school’s latest Estyn inspection also showing improvement, head teacher Chris Norman says it’s a “realistic possibility” for Willows High to be among the best in the city.
He said: “If you immerse pupils in a culture that has higher expectations and aspirations, then pupils will live up to those expectations.
“I think our pupils should be able to compete with any other school in Cardiff, Wales and the UK. That’s our ambition.
“We’re getting better every single year. We’re learning from our mistakes, we’re teaching our kids not to see mistakes as a failure but as part of the learning process.”
The current school was built 50 years ago and the building was only designed to last for around half that time. Much of it is in a poor state of repair.
A rebuild is being planned as part of Band B of the £284m 21st Century Schools programme being joint funded by Cardiff council and the Welsh Government.
Band B of the programme is set to run from 2019 to 2024 and it is understood Willows High could be in its new building by September 2021.
Exam results at the school have been climbing since 2011 – a year which Mr Norman describes as “rock bottom”.
Councillor Ed Stubbs, chairman of governors at the school, said: “Kids in other parts of the city have all sorts of advantages.
“If we can get as many kids as possible their passport to go into higher education then we can start to negate some of that inbuilt advantage and give kids from Splott and Tremorfa those same advantages.”