Fifteen years of planning and hard work finally came to fruition at Newquay Tretherras on Thursday with an official turf cutting event. Directors, staff, students, Education and Schools Funding Agency and representatives of the architects Stride Treglown, gathered in their hard hats to see the first spade go into the ground with the contractors, BAM Construction.

The new two storey building will contain 10 maths classrooms, 10 English classrooms, a 300 seater hall with retractable bleacher seating, an activity studio, three ICT classrooms and a PE classroom. The new block will be built on the existing tennis court area and replacement, with floodlit tennis courts provided. These facilities will be available to students from September 2019. The final phase of the project will be the demolition of the Lower School which will be completed by the end of the autumn term 2019.

Improvements are also planned to the senior part of the school with three new science laboratories, two art/media suites and additional ICT classrooms being provided. In the short term it is hoped to re-surface the school sports hall and also to provide a new surface for the artificial pitch.

Newquay Tretherras has also been successful in obtaining funding to provide new fencing for the site around the grounds, and replacement window walling and new cladding for parts of the existing buildings.

Graham Kingdon, BAM Construction Director, introduced events, saying, “The BAM team are delighted to be working on the new building at Newquay Tretherras School and this ceremony today marks a key milestone in the project. It is fitting that the students have carried out the ceremony today as this new building is very much for them and their community. We look forward to working with Newquay Tretherras School and the ESFA to deliver a fantastic building and a facility that we can all be truly proud of”.

Headteacher Samantha Fairbairn commented ‘This is a genuinely exciting moment for Tretherras. Now that this spade has gone into ground, we can finally believe that the days of the Lower School are numbered! We are indebted to the ESFA for funding this work, to ex-Tretherras student and architect Carl Harding for designing such a great building for our young people, and to BAM who have made such a smooth start to the building process. I’d particularly like to thank our parents for their patience and understanding as we’ve had to make changes to our drop off arrangements. Thanks to everyone here and the staff at NT for a great team effort!’

Newly-appointed Head Boy, Will Swift and Head Girl, Marijka Swozdiak led the ceremony and were first to cut the turf, with members of the NT school council representing the student body. Marijka reflected that ‘change is a positive thing’ and Will welcomed the new build as ‘creating special facilities for the future generations of Tretherras students.’

Geoff Brown, Local Councillor and Chair of the NET Board of Directors, remembered walking through the doors of the last rebuild of Tretherras as a student himself, fifty years ago. He rounded off the ceremony by emphasising ‘what a tremendous facility the new build will provide for the Newquay community and the youngsters at Tretherras for at least the next fifty years!’