More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A secondary school is planning to ditch classrooms which reach “intolerably high” temperatures of 38C.
Teachers hope the sweaty conditions in the information computer technology suites at Ursuline College, in Westgate-on-sea, can become a thing of the past when a replacement block of cooler classrooms is built.
The classroom temperatures of almost 40C top today's sweltering conditions in Dubai and Egypt.
Blueprints and computer-generated images of the new teaching block have been drawn up and submitted to Kent County Council’s planning department.
Should the scheme come to fruition, three large classrooms will be built.
Their construction will spell the end for the existing IT suites - in the school’s dilapidated St Cecilia building - which will be torn down.
Planning documents compiled by architects Bond Bryan state: “Ursuline College identified an issue with the existing ICT suites which were experiencing intolerably high internal room temperatures during the summer due to the extent of the ICT equipment being utilised, with the highest internal room temperature recorded at 38C.
“This environment was not conducive to a teaching and learning environment.
“The school has a requirement to provide larger-type ICT classrooms to meet current teaching and curriculum needs.
“Most of the existing spaces were not originally designed for academic use. Therefore there is an excess of smaller rooms not suitable for teaching.”
Each room will be able to hold 35 students, and as a result of the development, a shelter offering 20 cycle spaces will be created.
To make way for the modern block, the Little Brescia building - used for storage - will also be demolished along with the St Cecilia building.
The replacement rooms, which will sit on the northern end of the school site next to Canterbury Road, will then take on the name St Cecilia.
“The building responds to its immediate context reflecting the materiality on the site and developed into a modern and practical ICT hub,” the plans state.
