Latest news

  December 2011 - New lease of life for old trees

Pupils from Beverley School were given the opportunity to see a chainsaw sculptor show off his skills to create wood carvings for their new school. 

To make way for the new school unfortunately some trees needed to be cut down. So that all was not lost Willmott Dixon, the building contractor, came up with the idea to make a feature of the stumps by making wood sculptures, which would form part of the landscape of the new school.

Throughout the morning pupils from the school watched local chainsaw carver, Steve Iredale, create sculptures from their own designs.   These included the Easter Island style head by Nathan Buckingham and benches designed by Matthew Lunn and Brandon Thompson.

September 2011 - Boro boss opens school

Boro boss Tony Mowbray was the guest of honour at Prince Bishop School in Middlesbrough when he officially opened its fantastic new school building.

The pupils of Prince Bishop School in Saltersgill Avenue gave the Boro legend a warm welcome when he dropped in.  Mowbray officially opened the new school building built as part of Middlesbrough Council’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

Prince Bishop provides education for students with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties.

The new building features large classrooms with different learning zones for IT, reading and learning. Individual desks give students their own space.

The hall is a multipurpose space that is used for assemblies, lessons and dining and the school also has two court sports halls and new food technology room equipped with ovens and fridges for a whole class.

Headteacher Kirsten Dinsdale said the children were “very impressed” with their special guest.

She said: “They were really very pleased that the Middlesbrough manager came to the school and they were quite excited.  A number of them are fans. He was very chatty and friendly and they really enjoyed the visit.”

Councillor Mike Carr, Middlesbrough Council’s Executive Member for Children, Families and Learning, said: “It was very exciting to have the Boro boss Tony Mowbray officially open the new school for Prince Bishop.

“Tony is a local hero, from his leadership as captain in 1986 to his management role now, he is someone the children of Middlesbrough can look up to and he really took to the pupils at Prince Bishop.”

September 2011 - All the hard work has paid off

Following the Easter holidays Beverley and Prince Bishop Schools opened their doors in a staged return. Beverley was the first to open after the Easter break with Prince Bishop following suit a week later.

In an interview at the end of first term, Headteacher Nigel Carden and students gave their feedback on how their new building has improved school life at Beverley school.

Headteacher, Nigel Carden said: "the school is better than we expected. The children and young people are responding well to their new environment. We have worked hard to prepare for this change and are really pleased how well it has gone".

The school has been designed especially with students with autism in mind. The sensory and soft play rooms have coloured lights and sound to maximise the experience. 

All the students agreed with their headteacher and are enjoying the new school. Ross Hoggarth, age 8, said “It’s exciting. I like it better than the old school”.

Kane Stapleton-Lawrence, age 16, said: "the school is nice, new and clean. I like playing table tennis and reading books in the new common room".
Bobby Tehrani, age 16, said: "the school is bigger and the classrooms. I like the drama club in the music room". 

Individual workstations have been designed in the classrooms so students can concentrate on their work. 

The outdoor sensory garden is filled with scented plants and is a relaxing area for students. 

Over at Prince Bishop the new school has also been a success with pupils and teachers alike.

The new food technology room equipped with ovens and fridges for a whole class has been a big hit.   The two court sports hall means pupils can channel their energy into one of their favourite lessons. 

Each classroom has a blue feature wall to give colour into the room. They are large rooms with different learning zones for IT, reading and learning. Individual desks give students their own space. 

The hall is a multipurpose space that is used for assemblies, lessons and dining, making the very best use of the space in the new school. 

Headteacher, Kirsten Dinsdale said: “the fantastic facilities in the new school in the new building have enabled staff to deliver a curriculum that meets the
individual needs of all the young people who attend Prince Bishop”.

Over the next month the external areas of the school will be complete and the builders will finally leave the site. 

 February 2011 - Finding their own way

The BSF team and Willmott Dixon have been running a series of workshops with Beverley and Prince Bishop schools. The team worked alongside school staff to create fun and useful sessions for the pupils which will help them find their way round their new school.

A large plan of the new school was laid out and pupils and staff were then asked to find their new
classrooms, dining room and sports hall.

The sessions also helped staff to become more familiar with the new school and ask questions. Feedback from both staff and pupils was very positive, all finding the session informative and useful.

 February 2011 - Beverley and Prince Bishop progress

Construction of the schools is going well and is on target to meet the completion date in March. Heating and lights are now on and furniture and carpets are being fitted.

The entrance areas in front of both schools are underway and due to be fully complete by April 2011 ready for when the schools open.

Pupils and staff will be excited to see the extent of progress at their next visit and are currently planning their move into the new building over Easter.

    November 2010 - Time capsule ceremony

Beverley and Prince Bishop schools celebrated the burial of a piece of history in the grounds of their new school buildings on Friday 26th November 2010. Each time capsule was buried directly outside of the front entrance of each of the schools in a special ceremony attended by staff, pupils, representatives of Willmott Dixon the building contractor and senior Council officials including Councillor Mike Carr who also gave a speech at the event.

A pupil from each school spoke about the items they had chosen to put into the time capsule. Among the items in Beverley’s time capsule were a booklet made by the pupils of class 10 to let future generations know about their life now and a collection of photographs including all staff and pupils and their work with community partners. Nigel Carden, Headteacher at Beverley school said “I'm really proud of the young people who put our time capsule together. They thought very carefully about how people in the future would interpret the objects, and clearly wanted to give a positive impression of life in 2010.”

Prince Bishop chose to include the original school log from the 1960’s and a memory stick full of pictures of pupils and staff currently at the school.

Beverley and Prince Bishop schools will be co-located in a new building, sharing some facilities. The schools will open in April 2011.

October 2010 - In charge of our own destiny

1st October was a momentous day for one school in the BSF programme. To help give the school a fresh start, and in preparation for moving into their new building next April, Tollesby School became Prince Bishop.

Headteacher Kirsten Dinsdale said: “We decided to change the name because we were moving into a new school and felt that having a new name would give us the opportunity to have a completely fresh start. The school has changed so much over the past two years and we wanted to reflect how positive we all feel about the future. A list of names was compiled and discussed at length by the governors in September. Prince Bishop was chosen because the prince bishops in the past were responsible for their own destiny as are we today.”

October 2010 - Beverley and Prince Bishops Progress

Good progress continues on site with work ongoing both inside and outside of the building.

Inside, work is focussed on decoration - painting walls and laying carpets. The schools have chosen different but complementary colour schemes. Prince Bishop has a blue theme with powder blue feature walls. Beverley has a green theme and the two colours can be seen in the glazing at the front of the building.

Outside, the focus is on building the play areas. Students from both schools have been involved in the design of the play areas. This giant chess board will make play times fun for the students.

July 2010 - Beverley and Tollesby schools progress

The build is progressing well.

The ground floor concrete slab is now complete and brickwork has now started on both wings.

Within the next month installation of windows will begin along with scaffolding to all areas.

Students from both schools are making regular visits to the site and are enjoying seeing the building process.

July 2010 - Beverley and Tollesby students ‘stay safe’

Willmott Dixon staff have been teaching students the important lesson of how to stay safe on building sites.

Charles Thornton, Community Liaison Manager and Sue Robinson, Beverley-Tollesby Site Secretary attended school assemblies to present certificates and t-shirts to pupils who had filled in a site safety questionnaire.

The questionnaire was devised by the Beverley-Tollesby site team to carry on the theme of “stay safe” which they have been promoting at pupil site visits.


Questions in the survey included ‘What could happen if you climb scaffolding?’ and ‘What would you say if your friends asked you to go into a building site?’

All the students who completed the quiz achieved a 100% pass rate. Charles presented each pupil with a certificate and a t-shirt to the sound of applause from class mates and teachers.

The presentation represented another successful event in the partnership between Willmott Dixon, the schools and the BSF Team.

June 2010 - Beverley and Tollesby schools progress

Construction is progressing well and the building is now really taking shape. By the end of July, the building will be water tight - a major milestone for the scheme.

Students from both schools are making regular visits to the site and are getting more and more excited about their new school. In June, they will be involved in workshops about sustainability and landscaping.

May 2010 - Beverley and Tollesby schools progress

Externally the steel has now been completed to form the shape of the school. The concrete floors are in place and work has begun on the brickwork, the inner metal lining and the roof works.

Students from both schools have been to site for their first visits and are all very excited about seeing their new school being built. Tollesby’s SEAL Squad and Beverley’s BSF Squad will be reporting on site progress throughout - watch this space.

 March 2010 - Progress from Construction site

This month has seen great progress in the erection of the steel structure, providing a great view for the students from their classrooms. The steel to the central area is now complete.

Drainage works are ongoing and the lift shafts have been installed.

The Willmott Dixon site manager has visited the schools to give health and safety advice in assemblies and the site manager has been interviewed for Beverley School newspaper. These are good examples of the students making the most of the building phase.

 March 2010 - Students mark milestone in building of new school

On Friday 19th March students gave their new school building a personal touch when they put their names to its steel structure. The new building will open in April 2011.

Councillor Mike Carr, Executive Member for Children, Families and Learning at Middlesbrough Council, said: “The signing of the steel structure is a great way for the pupils to celebrate the beginnings of what will become a fantastic new shared school building.

“Students have already had a say in how their new school will look and this ceremony is another way to help them take pride in this exciting new establishment.”
Beverley’s Headteacher Nigel Carden said: “Everyone connected with the school has been able to have a say in the design of this transformational building.“ Tollesby’s Headteacher, Kirsten Dinsdale said: “The new building will afford us a fantastic opportunity to help the young people at Tollesby School reach their full potential.”

March 2010 - Progress from the construction site

Construction began on Beverley-Tollesby schools on 20th January 2010, the latest scheme in the BSF programme, and work has got off to a flying start.

In the first month, the site set-up was completed and some of the foundations for the new buildings were poured. As the building site is located to the rear of the existing schools, the hoarding that separates the site and the school has been specially designed to ensure the safety of the students.

In the next month, the steel structure will begin to be erected. To mark this milestone in the schools’ construction, students from Beverley and Tollesby schools will sign their names on the steel at a ceremony on 19th March.

February 2010 - Construction begins on Beverley Tollesby

Beverley and Tollesby schools will be located in a new single building on Saltersgill Avenue. The V-shaped scheme has been designed so that each school has a separate wing with separate entrances. The clever design means that the schools benefit from the economies of a single building but the students can follow separate programmes within the building.

Beverley will feature a new sports hall and teaching spaces designed for children with autism from nursery to post-16. Tollesby’s wing provides a mixture of vocational and standard classrooms with chill-out areas and a two-court sports hall. Outside there will be a new parking and drop-off system, multi-use games area, sensory gardens and various play and activity spaces designed for the needs of different age groups.

Beverley and Tollesby will open in April 2011.

Work to start on new special schools

Work is due to start on an exciting new building for Beverley and Tollesby Schools on Saltersgill Avenue. The two schools will share the building, with each having a separate wing.

The scheme gained planning approval in November and the new schools will open in April 2011.

Beverley’s Headteacher Nigel Carden said: “Everyone connected with the school has been able to have a say in the design of this transformational building.“

Tollesby’s Headteacher, Kirsten Dinsdale said: “The new building will afford us a fantastic opportunity to help the young people at Tollesby School reach their full potential.”

November 2009 – Scheme to seek planning approval

The Council’s Planning Committee will consider the application for Beverley and Tollesby schools at their meeting on 27th November. Beverley and Tollesby schools were originally intended to be refurbished. During the design process, the two schools agreed to share some facilities making a new build possible.

The scheme features separate wings and play areas, allowing the two schools to remain individual. There will be a multi-use games area for use by the community and specially designed parking and drop off areas to improve access to the schools.

August 2009 - Consultation on the plans for Beverley and Tollesby schools

Members of the public are invited to comment on the proposed plans for the new co-located Beverley and Tollesby schools at an event between 2 and 7pm on Monday 3rd August 2009.
The deadline for comments on the plans will be Monday 17th August and the comments received will help inform the planning application for the scheme, due to be submitted at the end of August. For those who are unable to make the event, the plans can be downloaded from the BSF website and comments can be emailed or posted to the BSF Team.

Parents and students have already had the opportunity to view the proposed scheme at two events on 24th June and 15th July. The plans were very well received by parents and students alike.

July 2009 - Second chance to view school plans

On 24th June, the plans for the new Beverley and Tollesby Schools were put on display at Beverley School for parents, staff, students and local residents. The plans show the schools in a single new building on the existing schools’ site.
Anyone interested in seeing the plans is being given a second chance to view them at Tollesby School on Wednesday 15th July from 9:30am to 3:30pm. Representatives from the BSF Team, Aedas architects and Willmott Dixon, the construction company, will be on hand to answer questions.

The plans are also available to download here.

April 2009 - Students have their say on school grounds

Students at Beverley School have had the chance to tell the landscape architects working on their new school what they would like in the grounds of their new school. The students used their imaginations to full capacity and suggested a wide range of things from giant games, sports facilities and interesting seating to a helicopter landing pad!

A similar workshop will be held with students from Tollesby School in May. Ideas from both sets of students will help the landscape architects create a vision for the school grounds that will be loved by students now and in the future.

Back to top