New Build - Bishop Ullathorne
Christmas Joy for Bishop Ullathorne
Popular oversubscribed Catholic secondary school to be rebuilt as part of the DfE schools
re-building programme!
Staff and students at Bishop Ullathorne Catholic Secondary school are both delighted and very excited about the announcement from the Department for Education that Bishop Ullathorne is one of the next 50 schools to be rebuilt as part of the Government’s School Rebuilding Programme.
Bishop Ullathorne RC School was originally built in 1953 and is part of Holy Cross Catholic Multi Academy Company (MAC) which was formed in September 2019 from seven Catholic schools based in Coventry.
The MAC and school had identified the need for a new build and submitted an application with compelling justification to be part of the next stage of the process.
Headteacher Mr Billings
Bishop Ullathorne Catholic School
“It is fantastic news! This school benefits from such fantastic students and staff whose commitment to the community is outstanding. To be able to serve the parents and students in a state of the art, purpose-built school is something everyone deserves but we feel very lucky to be included in the programme.”
Although Bishop Ullathorne and Holy Cross Catholic MAC have worked hard to make the school buildings a positive learning environment, with limited school budgets it has not been possible to make all the improvements to the school buildings that we would have liked. The announcement from the DfE is very welcome news for our school and the local community.
As a popular and oversubscribed school Bishop Ullathorne are already benefiting from a £3 million investment in a new sports hall funded by the Coventry local authority to support the future pupil placement planning.
These rebuilds and refurbishments are planned to create modern education environments, with brand new facilities. The schools are also planned to be much greener, with a zero carbon emissions target. We are so pleased that in the future our students and staff will be taught in modern purpose-built facilities.
The next phase will involve further surveys to establish if any of our current buildings are worth retaining and how much of a complete rebuild we will be entitled to. We expect to retain our new sports hall due to be completed in summer 2023, but very little else. The new buildings will be located on another part of the existing site and shouldn’t interfere with the smooth running of our existing school during the construction phase. We will also be very mindful of the impact on our neighbours and careful planning will ensure that the new buildings will be an improvement for everyone in the local community.
The Chair of our Governing Body, Mr Robert Ridley
Bishop Ullathorne Catholic School
“Bishop Ullathorne prides itself on the quality of its provision and it is great news that the school will get the improved quality of buildings to enable the staff and students within the school to continue to flourish and thrive. We look forward to working with Holy Cross Catholic MAC and the DfE to help in the smooth delivery of this very exciting development.”
The Chair of the Board of Directors, Mr John Teahan
Holy Cross Catholic MAC
“We are really delighted and very excited to be embarking on this project. The new building programme will be enhanced by the current £3 million investment in a new sports complex due to be completed in summer 2023. Together they will give our students a fantastic new learning environment to develop even further the many successes and strengths of the school. We also know that money is tight everywhere, particularly in education and we know how very privileged we are to be included in this programme.”
You can find more information about the DfE rebuilding programme here - click here