New school gets seal of approval from Leader (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

New school gets seal of approval from Leader

August 31, 2009 4:21 PM

Cllr Terry Stacy and school governor Julie Horton at the new school

Cllr Terry Stacy and school governor Julie Horton inspecting the new school

The Lib Dem Leader of Islington Council has given the seal of approval to a brand new school on Highbury New Park when he toured the site with a local school governor.

The current Highbury Grove and Samuel Rhodes schools are being replaced with a brand new building as part of the council's building schools for the future programme. The Lib Dem run council will be spending £140m refurbishing or rebuilding all the borough's secondary schools with 8 new or refurbished schools completed by 2012.

The new Samuel Rhodes building is due to open in September with the Highbury Grove building opening early next year.

Cllr Terry Stacy, Lib Dem Leader of the Council, comments:

"I've visited the new school and while it is not quite finished yet, you can already see that it's going to be a great building when it is. The building has been designed to use natural light and to be environmental friendly as possible.

"The Lib Dem run council's investment will mean that the children at Samuel Rhodes and Highbury Grove Schools will not only have a great building to learn in but some wonderful new facilities as well, with a gym, swimming pool and amphitheatre on site."

Julie Horton, Highbury School Governor, comments:

"I was really impressed when I was shown the new schools. You can see that a lot of thought was put into their design. Our pupils will benefit from the specialist art, music, sport and sixth form facilities.

"I am delighted that Highbury Grove can celebrate this year's record GCSE results and the successes of our sixth formers, including one student who is going to read Physics at Oxford, while planning January's move into this fantastic new building."