State-of-the-art teaching facilities will this week begin to be delivered to an Island school that forms a main part of Isle of Wight Council’s education vision.

The Church of England Dioceses for Portsmouth and Winchester and the Roman Catholic Diocese for Portsmouth founded Christ the King College in Newport in September 2008 to support the council’s proposed school re-organisation and to meet a long held community desire for denominational education for the full secondary age range.

Christ the King College was established by the amalgamation of Archbishop King Middle and Trinity Middle with a current age range of 9 – 13. From September 2009, the college will retain its current Year 8 students into Year 9 and, thereafter, year on year, expanding to full secondary range of ages 11 – 19.

As part of the expansion of Christ the King College, 13 new classroom blocks will be delivered over the next month. These include new science, design and technology and art facilities.

The delivery of the first set of teaching facilities will take place each day between Monday 6 July and Friday 10 July. The second sets will be delivered on Thursday 30 July, Friday 31 July and Monday 3 August.

Due to the size of the facilities, heavy good vehicles will be required to transport the loads. This may result in slight delays for road users on each day getting into Newport from the West Wight.

These facilities are only the initial phase of development at Christ the King. In addition to the new facilities that will be installed over the summer, a planning application is in process for a new sports hall and hard-surface play area.

The development of Christ the King by the Diocesan Authorities supports the historic decision, which was made in November 2008 that will see the Isle of Wight adopt a new two-tier education system as part of its drive to help improve educational standards.

Pat Goodhead, Principal at Christ the King said

“I am delighted to see the start of our new college project and would want to thank colleagues in the Diocesan Authority and Isle of Wight Council for their work and support in achieving this development. 

“The vision of the college is to build on the traditions of excellence of the previous two schools. The clear aim is to provide an education that combines high standards of academic achievement with strong moral and spiritual guidance. This is the start of achieving a 21st century school for all the community.

“I would also want to assure parents that the building programme will not disrupt students’ learning and will positively be used by the college to enhance the learning provision”

At a meeting of Isle of Wight Council’s Cabinet, members voted in favour of proceeding with education proposals that will see a new primary (4 – 11 age range) and secondary (11 – 19 age range) school system established. The primary sector will have no schools below a 1 Form Entry (A maximum of 30 new pupils in a year group) and no schools larger than a 2 Form Entry (A maximum of 60 new pupils in a year group).