£6 million facelift planned for Ellesmere primary school

The Elson Road school became part of the North West Academies Trust (NWAT) in 2016 and quickly launched a drive to improve the educational experience for its pupils.

Now it has been revealed its first major project is to completely transform the school building – replacing temporary classrooms with modern, fully-equipped facilities and creating a vast new school hall.

The blueprint, designed to be of benefit to the whole community, also features a state-of-the-art all-weather sports pitch, a bespoke outdoor learning space for the youngest children, and a spacious car park.

Acting headteacher Stuart Roberts said: “This is extremely exciting for the school and for our children to have something designed specifically with their needs in mind.

“It’s going to be a massive improvement for our pupils to benefit from a 21st century learning facility they can feel even more proud of.”

Since joining NWAT, Ellesmere Primary Academy has started to outperform most other schools in the county, and pupil numbers are on the rise.

The school’s governing body has been working hard on plans to make significant improvements for more than a year now, and this money-spinning project is just the start.

Residents will have the opportunity to use the area’s first synthetic sports surface as well as the expansive hall, while the better parking provision is expected to make the surrounding roads safer.

Government Conditions Improvement Funding has been applied for and a planning application has been lodged with Shropshire Council.

It is hoped that building work will get under way by the end of the year.

Steve Docking, CEO of NWAT, said: “We are all very excited by these plans which, when they are implemented, will be huge positive for everyone connected to Ellesmere Primary Academy as well as the local community.

“Our vision is always to create to the best possible learning environment for our children, using the most modern facilities and ideas to bring the best out of them on a daily basis.

“We also want to make everyone in the surrounding area part of what we are trying to accomplish, and I’m very confident the completed project will be a valuable asset to Ellesmere.”

He added: “We have a great deal of ambition for the school and if we are unsuccessful we will go again for funding until we get it.”

NWAT has already had an unprecedented year of successes.

Oak View Academy, in Cheshire, was ranked second worst primary in the country in 2014 but is now amongst the top five per cent of schools nationally according to end-of-year progress results.

Delamere CofE Academy, in Cheshire, was listed for closure a decade ago but just last month was ranked as one of the best 10 primaries in the country by Tatler magazine. And St Martin’s Academy, in Chester, a new free school that rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted after only 18 months, is now six-times oversubscribed.