Boarding Refurbishment - St Mary's Calne 2008-2016

Boarding Refurbishment Programme at St Mary’s Calne 2008-2016

“I love boarding here. I almost prefer being here to being at home sometimes!”

Florence Dyas House - completed September 2014

Boarding Refurbishment Programme 2008 Helen Wright House 2009 Joyce Walters House 2010 School House As part of St Mary’s ongoing vision and development, this year has seen the completion of a £10.5 million extensive refurbishment programme of our boarding facilities which benefits the whole school community, not just our boarders.

Our ethos is based on the breadth of education boarding offers, and day girls are fully integrated in all of the Boarding Houses.

“You get to stay in an amazing boarding house it is a real home-from-home.” Suzie

The result: • Impressive boarding facilities • Age appropriate accommodation • Welcoming, warm, comfortable spaces • A real home-from-home for the girls.

2014 Florence Dyas House 2014 Gibbins House 2016 St Prisca’s House 2016 St Cecilia’s House

Helen Wright House (2008)

“The Helen Wright House is amazing.”

Sophie

The project began in 2008 with the construction of the Helen Wright House – home to the UVI Form

T

he Helen Wright House is designed to prepare our Sixth Form girls for university life and is an exciting and wonderful end to their time at St Mary’s.

The House, which is set in the heart of St Mary’s grounds just north-west of the old lime kiln, provides individual study bedrooms with ensuite facilities, a

range of social areas as well as study and tutorial areas. The UVI Form dining room offers a Sixth Form menu for breakfast, break and lunch. The space, modern facilities and layout of the Helen Wright House was designed to give the best pastoral care for the girls. Each of the study bedrooms are kitted out with maple finish furniture and all the rooms and social spaces

are bright, modern and comfortable.

T

he Helen Wright House offers a firstclass pre-university experience reflecting the girls’ growing sense of independence and different ways of socialising and studying from supper parties, wine society, tutorials etc.

There is even an UVI Form Bar!

Proin iaculis lacus vitae ligula lacinia in fermentum ligula elementum.

Etiam ut elit dui. Sed augue felis, hendrerit in interdum sit amet, mollis semper turpis. Pellentesque malesuada, leo vel volutpat tempus

Joyce Walters House (2009)

A

n eleven room extension to Joyce Walters House followed in 2009 which included new shower rooms and refurbishment of the kitchen and Common Room. All the individual study bedrooms in

Joyce Walters now have hand basins. or our Fifth Form girls the combination of individual study bedrooms and communal spaces ensure a balance of social and private study areas.

F

“As soon as I came here, it felt like home. The atmosphere here is always really good and the House Staff are always there for you.�

Heley

The Imagination Zone, the Oratory Library, ICT Suite and the LIV classrooms on the ground floor were extensively redesigned thus creating the perfect welcoming environment for our youngest girls.

School House (2010)

“Life in School House is awesome, speaking from a boarder’s point of view, it is like a massive sleepover.”

In 2010 School House witnessed some major reconfiguration to create a lovely large Common Room for our youngest girls, and homely, comfortable dorms.

E

ach Boarding House also provides a family home for the residential Housemistress and a number of staff flats. All our Sixth Form girls now benefit from excellent accommodation and increased independence as they embark upon the last exciting phase of their time at St Mary’s.

Winner of the 2016 West of England LABC Building Excellence Awards for Best Educational Building

Florence Dyas House (2014) In 2014 Florence Dyas House was built thus completing the Sixth Form Centre.

T

ogether the two Sixth Form Boarding Houses are home to 120 girls and the accommodation is excellent. Both Houses have generously sized individual study bedrooms with en-suite facilities, a large, light and spacious Common Room, other smaller social spaces as well as kitchens for the girls to use in preparation for university life.

“ There’s definitely a different ‘feel’ in the Sixth Form and the new Florence Dyas boarding house has enabled the whole of the Sixth Form to become integrated which I have really enjoyed.”

Rebecca

Gibbins House (2014)

Gibbins House also benefited from some major reconfiguration at this time.

T

“Having my own room is definitely one of the things which has made Gibbins amazing. I love having my own space but still being close to all my friends. “ Charka

he New Mews extension was incorporated into Gibbins House, the kitchen and laundry facilities were upgraded, and a new House Office was created as part of the redesign.

Shortly afterwards the

staff residential facilities were extended and upgraded.

G

ibbins House now accommodates up to 63 Fifth Form girls in individual study bedrooms and most boarding rooms have wash handbasins.

St Prisca’s (2016)

In 2015/16, work on St Prisca’s took place in order to provide more private bathroom facilities for the girls as well as improved accommodation for staff, thus enabling us to attract the best possible staff.

An extension has been built to include some additional dormitories as some of the existing ones were incorporated into residential staff accommodation. The House has a new Office, a Boot Room providing much needed space for muddy boots and lax sticks, locker space, handbasins in the dormitories and more social spaces for the girls to relax and spend time with friends.

“Being at St P’s has been a great experience. There is always a nice atmosphere and lovely people to be with.”

Emma

“Everyone’s included and it’s so nice to be in a dorm with some new people – everyone is so friendly.”

Maia

St Cecilia’s House (2016) St Cecilia’s is our oldest boarding house and it is a Grade II* listed building. It is cited as the grandest of its period in the town by the Victoria County History.

E

xternally the school carried out considerable repair and maintenance work to the building in 2014. Throughout this academic year the interior has been refurbished and renovated, restoring some period details and improving the living space for the girls. We have tripled the social, activity and study spaces for the girls adding an elegant

Common Room, a large Study Room and two kitchens - one for tea and toast - and the other - a large family kitchen where girls can cook and bake at weekends, as well as meet with their tutors, study in groups...

standards and provide the girls with better privacy; some additional dormitories in order to take the pressure off the existing house and to allow the reallocation of the use of some of the rooms; and a spacious new entrance to the building which ther improvements includes a much needed have included the Boot Room for muddy comprehensive refitting Lax boots and sports of the bathroom equipment! facilities to bring them up to modern day

O

“I love St C’s as a House, a home and a bucket full of lovely friends and House Staff.”

Tilda

the buildings on it, as well as a number of other properties. We will not undertake anything that is a financial stretch.

E

The Financial Picture The Governors always take a prudent approach to capital projects.

T

o finance this extensive refurbishment programme, the school has primarily invested from our own carefully garnered reserves as well as from borrowings. The school has a sound balance sheet and a solid foundation to work from in that we own the Calne site and all

ssential refurbishment and maintenance of our accommodation and facilities will continue to be funded through school reserves. Over the summer, the kitchen and dining room, as well as some communal spaces will be refurbished. Improvements to the infrastructure of the site (parking, access roads etc) are also planned in the short to medium term.

So what’s next?

The school has set out its vision for the next 10 years

– Shaping the Future – There are a wide range of projects from sport through to science, the performing arts and library provision. However, we cannot achieve our vision through fee income alone. Like most schools, the majority of our income is spent on teaching and learning. Approximately 7.5% of income is spent annually on the estate and on reinvesting in our assets.

To continue to be at the forefront of girls’ education, we need to invest more heavily in the future of the school, and provide our pupils and staff with the best possible environment in which to live, learn and work. The

new facilities will provide greater opportunities for the girls and we also want to bring these opportunities to those from a wide range of backgrounds through our bursary and scholarship programmes.

Therefore, we need to fundraise in order to make the 10 year vision a reality and we are grateful to those philanthropists in our community who have already offered support.

If you would like to find out more information about our Capital Projects, please contact the Director of Development, Mrs Cari Depla, for more information.

Sports Complex Library Art School STEM Centre Performing Arts Centre

PHONE: 01249 875200 WEBSITE: www.stmaryscalne.org