Kier and Essex County Council Celebrate the Grand Opening of the New Elsenham Ce Primary School Extension

Kier and Essex County Council are celebrating the grand opening of the new Elsenham CE Primary School extension. Head teacher Linda Reid, and pupils were joined by Councillor Gooding and the Kier project team to officially mark its opening on Tuesday 26 March 2019.

Situated in the village of Elsenham, Bishop’s Stortford, the extension to Elsenham CE Primary School is a £4m investment which will provide permanent accommodation for 420 pupils. Appointed by Essex County Council in May 2017 Kier Eastern completed the build and pupils are already occupying the new classrooms. 

The new standalone building has been built to respond to the needs of modern education spaces with large windows inviting natural daylight, and a palette of traditional red brick walls and vertical timber cladding – coloured to reflect the school’s own house colours.

The project also included upgrading the kitchen to provide school meals, new office and library space as well as nine new bright and airy classrooms, along with staff and pupil facilities and externally a Multi-Use Games Area and Active Play area will complement the new internal space.

Ian Gifford, operations director for Kier Eastern, comments: “We are thrilled with the new extension to Elsenham CE Primary School. This project builds on our position as a leading UK provider of educational buildings. We hope the pupils and staff along with the residents of Elsenham and the wider community will enjoy the new teaching facilities.” 

Essex Councillor Ray Gooding comments: “This is fantastic news and I’m proud we have been able to support expansion of the school. Pupil numbers are increasing across the county and it’s vital we have the school infrastructure in place to support this growth and ensure all pupils receive a high-quality education. Well done to everyone involved in getting us to this stage.”

Headteacher, Linda Reid, comments: “We are extremely grateful to Councillor Gooding and Essex County Council for this very significant investment in our community. This wonderful new purpose-built facility helps to ensure that the children of Elsenham will be able to attend their local school for many years to come. As well as building capacity for the future, the new building supports our desire for excellence in education.

“There are superb indoor, and outdoor, learning spaces which provide excellent opportunities to enhance and enrich our curriculum. The children themselves are thrilled with the new facilities the building offers and the development of the outside area has been the icing on the cake. We are very lucky!”