St Mark’s C of E School makes history as Southampton’s first all through school (ages 4 to 16)
The secondary wing of Southampton’s first all-through school will welcome its first cohort of year 7 pupils on Tuesday 6 September following a successful handover in time for the new academic year
Pupils from L-R outside: Nicola Kempa, Barin Ako, Bipeen Mishra with Executive Headteacher Mrs Bryant and Leader of Southampton City Council, Councillor Satvir Kaur.
The secondary wing of Southampton’s first all-through school will welcome its first cohort of year 7 pupils on Tuesday 6 September following a successful handover in time for the new academic year.
This marks one of the final milestones of the £38.9 million school expansion project led by Southampton City Council’s property team in partnership with the Diocese of Winchester with the support of Morgan Sindall Construction and Faithful+Gould. The project is due to complete in December 2022 following final works to outdoor areas.
The previous St Mark’s C of E Primary School was demolished in 2020 to make way for Southampton’s first-ever all-through school. Now the expanded school has created 900 much-needed new secondary places, 180 per year group, alongside a pre-school nursery offering 24 places and 420 primary places.
Since the beginning of the new school term in January this year, primary school pupils have been enjoying the new facilities in the primary wing, which include 14 classrooms, group teaching spaces, a brand-new school hall and playground. The secondary wing, which includes 22 classrooms, a school hall, seven science labs and two dedicated IT rooms, was handed over in July in readiness for the school to prepare for the start of the new academic year.
Councillor Satvir Kaur, Leader of Southampton City Council said:
“As a council we are committed to investing in our young people, giving them the best start in life with a high-quality education. So, it’s fantastic to have delivered on our promise to create Southampton’s first state-of-the-art all-through school, creating 900 much needed additional new spaces, so that we can ensure we keep up with growing demand with the increase in pupil numbers from our primary schools.
“It’s been brilliant watching the project come to life, seeing the dedication of Executive Headteacher Mrs Bryant and her team, as well as meeting new pupils who are so excited by all the new facilities that have been designed to enhance their learning and wellbeing.
“Projects like these are so important to our local communities, not only addressing educational needs within our city but allowing us to grow the local economy, by working with local suppliers, creating hundreds of local jobs and investing in skills, training and apprentices.”
Mrs Stephanie Bryant, Executive Headteacher at St Mark’s C of E School adds:
“After 4.5 years of consultations, planning, building works and curriculum development, I am ecstatic that we are finally opening the all-through school to the community.
“The dedication from all partners and the St Mark’s team to get to this point is to be commended.”
Pupils will benefit from a range of state-of-the-art facilities to support their education including a brand-new four-court sports hall, dance studio and large Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA) for physical education. The school also boasts an outdoor science courtyard for outside experiments, a music suite and drama studio. Art, textiles, food and design subjects are also well provided for with dedicated teaching rooms and design technology workshop spaces.
The project has not only benefitted pupils and future generations but also contributed over £220m in social value commitments including using local suppliers and tradesmen, creating local jobs, apprenticeships, and support to local schools with work experience placements.
To support the new school and enable more families to benefit from safer walking, cycling and scooting on their journey to and from school, improvements have also been made to the footways around the school. Textured pedestrian crossings on Cawte Road, Dyer Road, Suffolk Avenue and Stafford Road (north and south) as well as new crossings on Howard Road and Shirley Road have been installed. An additional textured crossing will be added at the junction of Malmsbury Road with Shirley Road during the October half term.
Stafford Road (north) is part of the School Streets programme, which creates a temporary pedestrian, scoot and cycle zone during drop-off and pick-up times outside the school. The programme creates a safe space, to help children and their families actively travel to school by foot, bike or wheel, by removing traffic from the road outside a school.
A consultation will run in the autumn on further measures to tackle concerns around traffic and speeding on several roads in the area. This will include consultation on the delivery of a 20-mph speed limit.
The school will be welcoming parents and carers of prospective pupils for year R and year 7 2023 applications for an open evening on Wednesday 21 September from 6-8pm.
