BCAT Free School - Press Release

Barton Manor School, BCAT’s new Free School to open in Canterbury in September 2022

Barton Manor School, Barton Court Academy Trust’s Free School is due to open in September 2022. The demolition of the current site, the former Chaucer Technology School, is underway and the building of the new school is soon to commence. The Trust will take possession of the building in the second quarter of 2022 to provide time for the School to be made ready for opening to Year 7 students in September 2022.

The school build, a partnership between KCC, DfE and Barton Court Academy Trust has been subject to a number of delays, more recently due to COVID-19, and we are now delighted to announce the opening date of September 2022.

The construction of a 1,050-pupil facility set across a split level two and three storey building will take approximately 20 months to build.

Ms Cardus, Executive Headteacher of Barton Court Academy Trust. “The Free School is a truly exciting project for Barton Court Academy Trust and the local community. It has been an amazing opportunity to design a school from inception which can deliver our vision for excellence, collaborative learning and creativity”.

“The Trust have named the new school Barton Manor School and it will provide Canterbury and the local area with much needed secondary school places. Barton Manor School will be a 5 form, 11-18, non-selective school and as it will be located close to Barton Court Grammar School, an outstanding selective school, both schools will be able to work closely together to provide an outstanding standard of education for all students, harnessing the academic track record of Barton Court Grammar with the state-of-the-art facilities and innovative curriculum provided by Barton Manor School”.

Barton Manor School will be a centre of excellence for applied studies with specialist facilities and in partnership with Barton Court Grammar School, together they will provide a rich and successful joint post-16 provision. This will create a unique opportunity for the local area with a new free school built on a strong foundation of success coupled with brand new modern facilities to complement high standards and achievement.

“We are delighted we can provide a wonderful school building with modern facilities to suit the needs of students so they can learn and develop new skills for their future lives and careers.” Dr Bill Speed, Chair of Barton Court Academy Trust.

The new school will feature 7,200m2 of teaching space, with both traditional teaching spaces and modern vocational training studios for subjects including Catering, Resistant Materials, Hair and Beauty Therapy, Performing Arts, ICT, Business and Health and Social Care. These facilities will give our students “industry standard” resources and a 21st century working environment to develop career based skills, including advanced modern apprenticeships. This coupled with a cutting edge curriculum designed to prepare our young people for the world of work in the 21st century whilst also catering for academic excellence will ensure Barton Manor School will successfully serve the young people of Canterbury and the local area from its opening and for generations to come.

We are passionate about our vision for cognitive education. As an advanced Thinking School with Exeter University we have seen the benefits to our students when they are given opportunities to discover how they think and learn not just what they learn. Our approach to develop independent learning, resilience and mental well-being has also been considered in the building design with flexible learning spaces, access to mobile technology and “cognitive therapy spaces” so young people have both social areas and places they can relax and collaborate. We also want our young people to explore their creativity. The new school will also feature an outdoor performance area for drama, dance and music which works together with the School’s flexible learning spaces that inspire creativity and nurture talent.

Alongside the main school building, a 1,200m2 multi use sports facility will be constructed that will feature a sports block, multi-use games area and grass sports pitches which members of the local community will be able to utilize outside of school hours.

Richard Long, Kent County Council’s Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said:

“I am very pleased that work will be starting soon on Barton Court Academy Trust’s new free school Barton Manor School. Kent County Council has worked closely with BCAT and the Department for Education to ensure this much-needed secondary school can be delivered for the young people of Canterbury, and I very much look forward to visiting the School when it opens in September 2022.”

 

Ends
07.07.2020

Contact:

Roberta Light
01227 464600
rlight@bartoncourt.org