Grand opening of Braunton Academy’s new English block. hosted by school Principal Fay Bowler. The day featured a talk by actor and author Joseph Elliott, who cut the ribbon with Vice Chair of Devon County Council and former pupil Pru Maskell. Our Vice Chair, Councillor Pru Maskell officially opened Braunton Academy’s new English block last week.
The new block was delivered following our investment of £4million of capital funding.
Pru, a former pupil of what is now Braunton Academy was joined by author Joseph Elliot in the ribbon cutting ceremony.
The new block includes new changing rooms, two computer rooms, a multi-purpose classroom, three new SEND spaces, a dedicated teacher training space and new meeting rooms to enable staff to meet with parents.
Members of the Braunton Partnership, Trustees, other representatives from the council and the teams that were involved in the project joined the school council students and Year 11 student leaders to celebrate this occasion.
Vice Chair of Devon County Council, Pru Maskell, said:
“It was an honour to be back in my former school today for the opening of their fantastic new English Block.
“A £4 million capital investment from DCC to provide this new facility, well done to the Principal Fay Bowler, her staff and the governors for their hard work and commitment to this project.”
Principal Fay Bowler said:
“When I started my headship at Braunton Academy, I was told by the Trustees that one of the biggest issues we had to manage was the rise in the student population and the problem that not all young people in the catchment area could attend the school.
“Much of the school building is very old, which limited our options to provide additional learning spaces within the existing footprint.
“With one of our core values being community, it has been extremely important to us to find a way to provide an excellent education for all the students in our catchment area.
“I would like to thank our senior and Trustee teams for their creativity and support working with me to find an area of the school that we could expand without losing social play space.
“This building and the other improvements are a wonderful legacy for all of us. This building expansion guarantees further generations in Braunton’s catchment area the ability to continue their education at their local school. Hopefully for at least another 87 years.”