Pupils get first look at £45m revamped school (From Echo)

Pupils get first look at £45m revamped school

10:00am Thursday 6th September 2012 in News

PUPILS entered a new environment yesterday as their school term began at the new -look Cornelius Vermuyden School.

The school, in Dinant Avenue, Canvey , welcomed pupils to its new multi-million-pound surroundings as the school celebrated receiving a good rating from education watchdog Ofsted and its highest-ever GCSE results.

Its recent GCSE results saw 84 per cent of pupils gaining five or more A*-C grades, beating the previous best of 74 per cent.

Headteacher Carol Skewes said she was very pleased at the upturn in results, citing hard work and excellent teaching as the main reason for the results boom.

She said: “The number of students achieving five A*-C in their GCSEs is an improvement on last year and a record high for a school on the island.

“The important five A*-C percentage, including English and maths, also increased to a record high and will possibly be subject to revision upwards following the outcome of the dispute over the setting of grade boundaries for the English GCSE.”

She also said she was delighted with the June Ofsted results. The results come off the back of the school’s transitional period moving into the new school building, although Mrs Skewes said the process was smooth and carried out on time and schedule.

As well as the academic success, the school is now starting to feel the benefit of the £45million school transformation, with over 90 per cent of the school rebuilt over the past six years.

New features at the state-of- the-art development include a 600sqm sports hall with a rockclimbing wall, IT suites, music recording studios, and an “immersive room” with touch-sensitive walls and floors, which allow students to interact with images projected around the room.

Mrs Skewes said: “With these new facilities and this inspirational new building, our pupils will be able to achieve anything and I’m sure we will continue to get better and build upon our success.”