The old Blacon High School is rapidly disappearing triggering memories for the thousands who attended over the years.
Workers have taken a wrecking ball to the original building after the new school and sports hall was built alongside on what was the tennis courts.
Once cleared, the new area will be the location for car parking, a new grass pitch, an all weather sports pitch and eventually five new tennis courts.
Despite the noise of the demolition work, the glazing at the new site is apparently pretty sound-proof ensuring pupils are not disturbed.
The new £12m school, which has a capacity for 600 pupils, includes state-of-the-art science labs, interactive whiteboards in all classrooms, better IT provision, the new sports hall and a climbing wall.
Headteacher Sue Yates told those gathered at the official opening last September: “We are going on a journey towards being an outstanding learning community and it’s absolutely clear this environment is going to help us to do that.
“Those of us who taught on the third floor will know we are very glad to say goodbye to the hot building, the very hot rooms, the very cold rooms, the rooms where you could never really get the temperature right for teaching. We are really glad to say goodbye to the windows you couldn’t see out of and we are very glad to be saying goodbye to the leaks that often came down the main staircase.”
She added: “However, buildings do not make brilliant schools. Brilliant schools are made by the kind of things that we do here. A building, I’m absolutely certain, can enhance that, but it will not cause that to happen.”
Sue said Blacon High, already judged ‘Good’ by Ofsted, was ‘very ambitious’ with ‘high expectations of ourselves’.
“Young people and the young people on this estate deserve the very best life chances we can give them,” continued the headteacher, explaining that a bursary scheme meant high performing pupils who excelled in their GCSEs could be funded to continue their study at some of the UK’s top private schools.
Deputy Lord Mayor of Chester Cllr Razia Daniels was delighted to perform her first ribbon cutting at Melbourne Road school, which she considered ‘a great honour and privilege’. Other guests were pupils, staff, governors, journalists, Chester MP Chris Matheson, Vice Chancellor Professor Tim Wheeler from the University of Chester, Helen Nellist, acting principal at West Cheshire College and Mark Parkinson, head of education at Cheshire West and Chester Council.
