In April 2010 Armathwaite School celebrated its centenary.The school has gone from strength to strength, with national recognition for its work in Child Initiated Independent Learning and ever increasing numbers on roll.

The aim was to provide appropriate facilities to support the "gold plated " education that Armathwaite School provides.

The Situation

The problem was that the school had no separate hall, the main room ( Reception and Year 1 classroom ) was used for indoor PE and the Year 2 and 3 classroom for serving food to those eating school dinners.

Requirements

The school needed a multipurpose hall for

• assemblies
• PE
• lunches
• Christmas and Summer performances
• storage of PE equipment
• drama
• after school clubs

It also provided the opportunity to

• improve the kitchen facilities
• build a disabled lavatory to both provide and improve provision for school and community use
• provide the flexibility to create more teaching space
• provide our community owned and run Early Years Facility with daily access to space for physical activities

Requirements from Armathwaite Community

There were also requirements from the wider community of Armathwaite which were not completely met by the Old School Hall. It was unsuitable for active sports such as those needed by the Youth Club,Brownies, Rainbows and Football Club.

It was proposed that the hall would have a separate entrance so that it could be used independently of the  main school building, after hours for community groups

The Governors of Armathwaite School  asked parents and community members to form an action group to make this project happen. The School PTFA agreed to raise a significant amount of money towards the cost of the new build and project plans and costs were submitted to Cumbria County Council.

 Click here to see a copy of the Project Plan and Costs ( June 2009 )

To see the  plans for the Centenary Hall ( September 2009 ) click below

Centenary Hall Floor Plan

Centenary Hall Elevations Plan

The funding for the Centenary Hall was raised by Armathwaite School,individual donations, PTFA fundraising events and donations from the local community.The CHAG Action Group  also applied for grants from various bodies to help reach the target of  230,000 pounds

Many thanks to everyone who returned an envelope and donated to our appeal. Your support is very much appreciated.

Update on Community Fundraising

Total cost of hall estimated at  230,000 pounds

• Local authority school budget                                   103,000
• Extended services grant                                             50,000
• Community Donations *                                               39,000
• PTFA Centenary Hall Appeal*                                        6,600
• Hesket Parish Capital Allocation Grant                          2,000

* Including Gift Aid

Other grant applications in progress  25,000 pounds

Armathwaite Abseilers

As part of the community fundraising some incredibly brave volunteers abseiled down the Civic Centre in Carlisle.

You can see some of the action in the slideshow below.

The abseiling raised  2,500 pounds ~ well done everyone ! ( November 2009 )