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We will use this page to keep a diary of key moments along with thoughts and feelings of colleagues and learners as the project progresses

Please do enjoy reading the contributions over the coming weeks.

22nd May - The Start of a Something Wonderful

Planning has been submitted. 

This feels to us like a fantastic moment in this project and the start of something wonderful for our school and community. 

Bay House School has evolved from a Grammar School to a Comprehensive and grown to include a Sixth Form. Through this the site has adapted to a growing student roll that now sees it as one of the largest schools in the country. We have a stunning, historic listed  building and we have 'temporary' classrooms that some of the student's grandparents remember. With marriage of opposites the school site can feel like a hodge podge of buildings that have no connection and movement around the school can feel cramped. It is rare that a school has the opportunity to look at the design of the whole site and really think about the improvements that would make the most difference to the students that learn here.

It may feel like the start of something wonderful, but It is actually not the start. In fact it is nowhere near the start.  This project has already been going for over two years. The DfE informed us that we would be part of the first 50 schools to be involved in the school rebuilding programme in February 2021. We were in the second lock down at this time and we were all struggling to find some light at the end of the the tunnel, but this was such a fantastic pick me up. Since then we have been working really hard with the DfE to scope works and plan this project. It has grown from a relatively small project refurbishing a small area of the school to one of the largest projects the team have worked on involving the demolition of 6 buildings and the construction of three much larger blocks along with the refurbishment of large areas of the site.

The design that has been created by the team involved is absolutely fantastic and I cannot wait until these are real spaces for our learners to use. I am so excited by the amazing canteen design, with it's seated space for many more students, transforming the lunchtime experience for all our students. The improvements to sixth form spaces will bring a new age to this aspect of our provision. The care that will be given to the old house will see this rejuvenated for next generations. For me though, the most wonderful thing of all is the thought that has been given to the school site as a whole which will mean a learning environment I will be excited to enter every day, space that is easy to move around and a place that we can all be proud is part of Gosport.  

Mr R.Peet