Aylestone Business and Enterprise College is to officially open the doors to a new centre for student services this week (March 23).
The centre has been funded by Herefordshire Council following a successful bid for more than £2 million to the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The bid was for cash to invest in centres to support young people in their own schools.
All the county’s maintained secondary schools are to have a student centre. The centres differ according to the needs of the school, but are designed to provide targeted support to pupils when they need it most and help them get back on track to meet and exceed their potential.
Aylestone’s new centre is self contained within the heart of the school. It consists of a major refurbishment to existing classrooms which has resulted in the creation of light, bright spaces for study, plenty of space for one-to-one tuition, group work for literacy support, course work, exam support for year eleven students and meeting rooms.
Sue Woodrow, head teacher at the school, said: “Our new centre is already supporting a large number of students, all with different needs. The focus is on supporting achievement and progress for all.”
“The most important thing is that help is provided quickly and effectively. The new arrangements began a couple of weeks ago and are already being well received by our students who have given the centre the official thumbs up.”
The new centre will be officially opened by Councillor Philip Price, Herefordshire Council’s cabinet member for ICT, education and achievement, on Wednesday March 24 at 1.45pm. Following a ribbon cutting event, there will be tours around the new centre where visitors can meet some of the pupils using the centre.