Pupils break ground as work officially begins on new Sheffield school building

(L-R) Byron Wood Principal Bee Wood, and Amelia Bullock, Assistant Project Manager at the DfE with pupils Eliska Holubova, Bilal Dula, Shanorma Goss, Xue Dean Lin, Olla Omer and Abdimalik Siyad Abdi

Work on the new state-of-the-art Byron Wood Primary Academy building officially started on Tuesday, October 15, as the group of six pupils – aged between seven and 10 – were joined by representatives from the Department of Education and the contractor, Interserve, for a ground-breaking ceremony.

The new building, which is due to open in time for the next academic year, will provide pupils with a brand-new sports hall, an additional studio with a sprung dance floor and a food, science and design and technology room filled with state-of-the-art technology.

It is being built while the children continue to learn in the existing building in Burngreave.

Bee Wood, Principal of the school in Earldom Road, said: “We can’t wait to settle into the new school building, the new facilities will mean that we can continue to provide an education that inspires beyond measure for all our children. We have recently been rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted, with inspectors recognising the significant improvements we have made.

“These state-of-the-art facilities are certainly going to help us as we continue on our improvement journey.”

The existing school – described as ‘inefficient and oversized’ for its 472 pupils, aged between three and 11, and 57 members of staff – was built in the 1930s as a secondary school and was converted to a middle school in the 1960s.

In 1991 it joined with Ellesmere Nursery to become Byron Wood School and in 2016 it became an Academy.

Under plans, the nursery will be given its own entrance, with Year 1 and Year 2 moving to the same floor – also with its own entrance.

Once the existing school has been demolished, the area will then be landscaped, with new playing areas and a forestry school area. Byron Wood Primary is also fundraising for new outdoor facilities.

Next week, pupils will get the chance to sign the steel before the first one is placed and to mark the occasion they will also bury a time capsule to record and remember the school’s history.

Interserve’s Senior Site Manager Rob Holmes, said: “We were delighted to welcome staff and pupils on site to attend this special ground-breaking ceremony. We will be working closely with the school throughout the build, to offer opportunities and learning experiences for the students as the project progresses.”