Students and staff at Holbrook Academy are celebrating the news that building work will shortly begin on a new science lab and a new teaching centre, following the award of £237,000 from Community Infrastructure Levy funds collected from new housing builds in the local area.

Headteacher, Mr Tom Maltby, said: “This is fantastic news for our students and for our local community. Holbrook Academy is fully committed to enhancing Science for all our students alongside sharing this new Science facility with local primary schools. One of the important lessons from this past year is that Science really matters in our everyday lives and at Holbrook we want to nurture tomorrow’s leading scientists. This is a great step forward.”

Chair of Governors, Louise Cullen, said: “This project has been a long-term ambition for Holbrook Academy and we are absolutely delighted to finally start work on this exciting new development.”

The school will be increasing capacity from 590 students to 600 once the provision is in place. The new teaching centre will be named The Mayhew Centre in honour of former Acting Headteacher, Nicola Mayhew, who led the school following the sudden death of Dr Simon Letman in April 2019, and will enhance Holbrook Academy’s commitment to personalised learning.