Heathlands Headmistress, Sarah Dunn, with MP Conor Burns cutting the ribbon
Bournemouth West MP, Conor Burns, has officially opened the new buildings and learning areas of Heathlands Primary School, and Springwood Campus, the autism specific provision for Linwood School. The £5.3 million development included extensive work by Greendale Construction to the existing school buildings, alongside the construction of two new modular classroom blocks undertaken by Modulek to provide modern classrooms and facilities for the schools. Springwood Campus, based on the Heathlands School grounds, will provide 60 places for pupils aged 3-19 across the autistic spectrum and include a sensory suite which has a soft play, calm sensory room and a multi-sensory interactive learning environment. Other facilities include music and speech and language rooms, and a smaller room for 1-1 work and calming activities.
Mr Burns, who was joined by senior prefects Gabrielle and Bradley, said: “Staff at Heathlands do such a wonderful job and they now have superb buildings to help give children the best start in life. The strong turnout for the grand opening shows how important Heathlands is to the community but also how important West Howe is to Bournemouth.”
Greendale Construction and Footprint Architects L to R
Rob Hooker – Director Greendale Construction Limited
John Kirk – Contracts Manager / QS Greendale’s
Roy Howarth – Site Manager Greendale’s
Peter Ward – Footprint Architects – Project Architect
Lynda Bannister, Head of Springwood Campus said: “This has been a great opportunity to create an autism specific learning environment where children and young people can feel calm and able to learn. Greendale and Modulek have worked hard to listen to our needs and have delivered a building which is already a positive effect on our pupils. Springwood is also excited to be sharing a campus with Heathlands, which I am sure will benefit both schools.
“The spacious classrooms and corridors, state of the art ICT and sensory rooms, individual class play areas and accessible toilets from classrooms will help our pupils be more independent. We are absolutely delighted with these new facilities.”
