These pictures show how building work is well underway at the new Fitzalan High School in Cardiff. The three-storey building has now reached its full height.
The £64m project is the largest in the 21st century schools project with funding from Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government. Pupils will move in in April 2023 when the crumbling late 1960s old Fitzalan School building will be demolished.
The frame of the new school is now up showing clearly the massive hall which has capacity for all-school assemblies.
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Around this heart of the 17,730sq ft building is a canteen and classrooms, science labs and music studios going up the three stories. Roof lights and large windows have been designed to let the light in. There are vents for natural ventilation, wide corridors and open learning spaces.
Special features include an “immersion studio” where surround sound and images can be projected onto the walls to mimic experiences for pupils such as aquariums, castles and other places they might not get to visit.
Sports facilities include a 25ft, four lane swimming pool, 4G pitches, multi-use sport areas and a full size hall.
An amphitheatre and World War One trench are under construction for outdoor learning and there will be poly tunnels, gardening areas and beehives.
For vocational learning there will be electronics and construction learning areas. The canteen includes an outdoor seating area and there are mixed and single gender toilets on each floor. Solar panels on the roof will help the building create electricity.
Fitzalan assistant headteacher Jo Kemp said staff and pupils can’t wait to move in describing the current building as “end of life”. She said some of the windows are falling out, some won’t open, there are external floods, some leaks and 12 boilers, some of which break down. Corridors are narrow and crowded and there can be problems with wifi.
“This is more than a school we are building, we are building life chances for pupils and the community,” Mrs Kemp said.
“We want to lose external flooding, dodgy wi fi, falling out windows, leaks and lack of toilets in the old building.
“A new building can support education and learning but is not a solution. Our relationships and culture, we think, are right and the education we provide. Building this new school we wanted to take the best bits of what we have already got and get a building to match. Our old building is end of life and we are hanging on for another year.”
Mrs Kemp joined Wales' Education Minister Jeremy Miles, Cardiff Council leader Huw Thomas, pupils and representatives from construction firm Kier at a topping out ceremony to mark the building reaching its highest point.
Year eight pupil Wasif Mahmood, 13, was one of the pupils who has been involved as an ambassador asking fellow pupils what they want in the new building.
He said he can't wait to move into the school next year.
"Sometimes in lessons the wifi doesn’t work now. I just want everything to work. I’m excited for the new school,” he said.
Year nine pupil and fellow ambassador Sasha McGonigle, 13, said bits of the old building are “falling down”.
“I am looking forward to everything being fresh and new and better facilities. At the moment my science room doesn’t have a lab so we can’t do experiments often.
“Some of the taps don’t work and when people see rubbish around they might feel it doesn’t matter. It will be nice to have a school building we can be proud of.
“I think it will make people more excited about going to school.”
Maya Velani, 17, is in her last year of school at Fitzalan and regrets she won’t be there to move in.
The A level student, who is waiting to hear if she has got in to study medicine at Cardiff University, said good facilities can help education.
“It’s amazing to come and see everything coming together.
“I am disappointed I won’t be here to enjoy it. Environment plays a big factor. One of the things I think we really wanted was an outdoor seating area from the canteen and new science labs and facilities.”
Former pupils are among those helping build the new school with construction firm Kier carrying out the work. Graduate design manager Sadika Meah, who left Fitzalan in 2015 and went on to do a degree in civil engineering at Swansea University and a masters at Cardiff University, started on the Fitzalan project four weeks ago.
"It's amazing because I feel I have come full circle. It's great that my first project is here. On the first teams meetings I saw Mrs Kemp and it was like my education and career have come full circle. It's exciting."
Kier said it is committed to using local suppliers within a 30-mile radius where it can and has also set up a training hub to give local people a chance to do work experience and training. Some have gone on to get full-time jobs on the project.
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