A new £25 million school for Oakdale is taking shape and should be ready to accept new pupils next year, education chiefs have said.
Islwyn High School will sit on the site of the former Oakdale Colliery, and will house pupils from the existing Pontllanfraith and Oakdale Comprehensive schools.
In recent weeks, solar panels have been installed on the roof, and work has started on installing windows and internal plasterboard.
Though the school is scheduled to open in September of this year, pupils will remain in their current schools until the third term, in May 2017, until transferring to Islwyn High.
On June 15, 16 and 17, members of the public will have a chance to take a tour of the site and meet the team working on the project.
Numbers are limited, and booking is essential. This can be done at www.opendoors.construction.
The three-storey school and sports hall will be linked with a two-storey dining hall.
The school also boasts a floodlit 4G sports pitch, 200 metre athletics track, small amphitheatre, and pond garden.
Cllr Derek Havard, Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning said: “The progress at Islwyn High School is fantastic. It is incredible to see a previously disused piece of land being transformed into a state of the art educational campus.”
About time a new school is being built. It’s still too big and doesn’t offer the personalised education that is needed but it’s a start.
I don’t like the architecture of it, it look a bit boring. However, the architecture of a school is the least of worries in a Labour-influenced education system in Wales.
Any chance of converting the old schools into grammar schools?