Work on Oldham's new town centre school hits key milestone

The foundations for the Brian Clarke Church of England Academy, which will be based on Booth Street, close to Oldham College, are now complete and the school has also finalised the hiring of its founding staff.

The school facility is not set to be finished until next May but teaching of the first cohort of Year 7 students will take place this upcoming September in a temporary block of classrooms on the site of The Bluecoat School on Egerton Street.

The school said in an update on social media this month that the foundations of the site were now in place and the structural steel would start going up this month.

It is the site of a former Sainsbury’s supermarket, which has now been demolished.

The Covid pandemic caused delays in the new facility being built.

The proposed design of the academy

In a statement, Brian Clarke C of E headteacher Allison Ash said the construction of the building was "progressing extremely well" and everything was on track for teaching to begin at the facility in May next year.

An update on the school's website said the dates remained on track due to a "mild winter"

The school gained planning permission to start building in August 2021 and the council formally handed over the land to begin building the following month.

Work should be completed in a year's time

The school will have 1,200 students once the year groups have filled out, with the first 240 pupils joining for Year 7 later this year.

The academy is named after an Oldham-born artist and architect Brian Clarke.

Students set to join the school will be welcomed ahead of their start with a transition day on June 30 to help acquaint them with their new surroundings and teachers.

A representative of the Cranmer Education Trust, which will run the school, said: "We are very excited to be welcoming our new students, places have now been allocated for this September, and transition arrangements for summer term communicated to families."