Bishop's Stortford school campus celebrates topping out

Work to deliver the new The Bishop's Stortford High School (TBSHS) campus has reached a major milestone in its construction.

Members of Hertfordshire County Council along with the Mayor of Bishop’s Stortford, joined the school’s Headteacher, Chair of Governors and representatives from ISG, as they celebrated the building reaching its highest point, as part of a topping out ceremony.

The event marked the last section of concrete being laid in the new three-storey, concrete-frame building, as the project moves into the final stages and internal fit out.

The new-build school highlights the county council’s commitment to sustainable, responsible growth. Councillor Caroline Clapper, Executive Member for Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning at Hertfordshire County Council, said: “Both I and my colleagues are committed to developing sustainable communities in Hertfordshire along with providing excellent council services for all. The topping out of the new secondary school for Bishop’s Stortford will reduce pressure on places and create additional places that will be needed as the population of the area grows in coming years.”

The development was funded by Hertfordshire County Council, the sale of the school’s current site, as well as a £11.2m grant from the Department for Education (DfE). The project was awarded through Pagabo’s Major Works Framework.

Dale Reeve, Headteacher at The Bishop’s Stortford High School, said: “To have reached the topping-out stage is very exciting. The framework of the new school is now in place and we can focus on some of the finer details, followed by the logistics involved in relocating the school. I am extremely grateful to all those who have played a part in getting the project to this stage. We know our students get a fantastic deal already, and to have the facilities and learning environment to match will be wonderful.”

Once complete, the building will feature five, interlinked zones and a separate double-height sports hall, built to Sport England standards. It will also be equipped with a library, two drama studios, and strength and conditioning gym, a large performance space, and eleven science labs. Externally, the project includes car parking, cycle storage, coach bays, a floodlit multi-use games area and highways work.

To encourage natural drainage and increase biodiversity, two attenuation swales – pond structures – have been formed, while 650 solar PV roof-mounted panels will provide a high proportion of the school’s energy.

Once complete, TBSHS will be able to migrate from its old site to the new school, and be able to enrol 180 pupils a year, across six forms of entry (6FE), rather than the previous published admission number of 156. Equating to 900 pupils across Years 7 to 11 and 400 in its sixth form, with the potential to expand in future to support the proposed scale of new housing in the area.

TBSHS is a comprehensive secondary school, with a co-educational sixth form, in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. The school admits boys aged 11 to 16 in the first five forms, with a mixed sixth form of boys and girls aged 16 to 18.