Work starts to redevelop Amble Middle School site into premises for primary and SEND schools

The former Amble Middle School site on South Avenue will be redeveloped to become a new site for Amble First School, set to become a 210-place primary school with a 26-place nursery attached.

Alnwick special educational needs school Barndale House School will also open a 50-place satellite location, Barndale-by-the-Sea, at the redeveloped site. Despite sharing a premises, the schools will be run independently.

Contractor Robertson Construction North East has now begun demolishing the caretaker’s cottage and outbuildings at the site and preparing for external alterations and extensions to the existing school buildings.

Lizzie Jackson, headteacher of Amble First School, said: “We are so excited about our new school and are very happy with the plans.

“We are going to have new classrooms, a library, and more outdoor space and playing fields, which will be brilliant for the children.

“We decided a new school building needed a new name and we will be announcing that very soon, but apart from that there will not be a lot of changes other than having a fantastic new building.

“Our numbers will grow gradually and we are looking forward to having our children with us for that little bit longer.”

Mark Phillips, headteacher of Barndale House School, said: “We are really looking forward to opening our new site in Amble and becoming part of the local community, where we can help to make sure more young people have their needs met as close to home as possible.

“I am very proud of the positive, warm atmosphere staff and pupils have created at Barndale House and we are excited about expanding this to Barndale-by-the-Sea.

“We are also pleased to have the opportunity to work more closely with the other schools in the partnership to support one another and do the very best we can for all the young people in the partnership.”

Northumberland County Council is investing £39m into the Coquet Partnership, with the two-tier system set to come into effect from September 2024.

Barndale-by-the-Sea will be fitted with bespoke special educational needs classrooms, a life skills studio, a home economics lab, a science classroom, and a library.

Designs for the primary school include an early years wing, hall, and library. The site’s existing playgrounds and playing field areas will be maintained.

Cllr Guy Renner-Thompson, cabinet member for education, said: “It is fantastic to reach this milestone and to see our ambitious plans for the Coquet Partnership of schools taking shape.

“We are investing in education right across the county so that all our young people can have access to the right education for them as close to home as possible.”

Cabinet member and Amble West with Warkworth ward councillor Jeff Watson added: “This exciting masterplan for the Coquet Partnership will be a game-changer for the area, creating first-class teaching, learning, and sports facilities that will transform the lives of young people and the whole community for generations to come.”

The next stages of Amble schools masterplan involve expanding other first schools ahead of their conversion to primary schools and constructing a new building for James Calvert Spence College, due to open in April 2026.