Our School
Summerhill School is very proud of the excellent facilities we are able to offer students, staff and the local community. In September 2003 we moved into a new building, which was constructed under a Public Finance Initiative (PFI). Our private partners are Newmount. Within the partnership the management of the site facilities are now the responsibility of MITIE PFI Ltd.
The school accommodation has been designed so that subject areas are clustered together. This enables collaborative work to take place with subject teams and maximises the use of equipment and resources. On the ground floor there are 4 Science labs, the Learning Centre containing 50 computers, Drama area, 6 Language classrooms, Design & Technology rooms offering specialist areas for computer aided design and computer aided manufacture (CAD CAM), wood, metal and graphics and a pottery area. There are a number of offices, the main hall, school shop and Café Summerhill.
The school has excellent PE facilities. A large sports hall offers badminton courts and indoor cricket facilities, a full range of court markings for tennis, basketball, netball and football as well as modern gymnastic equipment and multigym. We are also very proud of our 25m x 4 lane pool which provides excellent opportunities for Summerhill students. It also enables us to offer swimming opportunities for seven local primary schools together with a highly successful Summerhill Swim Scheme offering swimming opportunities for the community. Extensive playing fields offer the opportunity for a wide range of outdoor sporting activities.
First Floor accommodation offers a further 4 Science Labs, 2 Music rooms, 4 Music practice rooms and ensemble room, ICT rooms, 2 Art rooms, Design & Technology rooms supporting Food Technology and Textiles, first floor Learning Centre and classrooms for Special Educational Needs (SEN), General Teaching and Business Studies. A further ICT suite for 16 computers was added in August 2011. On the second floor there are 6 English classrooms and 1 specialist Media classroom, 6 Humanities classrooms and 1 further ICT classroom.
Prior to our move into the new building staff and students worked with a professional design team –‘Graphic Thought Facility’ which were sponsored through the Sorrell Foundation, to design signs in the new building. Their designs were realised and you will see evidence of this project throughout the building.
Since our move into the school we have invested a great deal of our own school resources to ensure that the technologies in the new building are extensive and up to date. Every classroom has an interactive whiteboard and this technology is used throughout the curriculum to support the delivery of lessons. Our 4 computer suites each house between 30-50 computers and we have small clusters in Languages, Music, D&T and Science. We also have computers in the ‘streets’ in Humanities, Maths, Languages and Science. We have also invested in ‘Apple Mac’ technology to support Media Studies. During 2009 with the support of external funding from School Sports Co-ordinator Programme - Central and West Dudley Partnership, we have purchased three external table tennis tables to enhance the PE curriculum and provide a social activity for students.
In September 2011, an extension to the existing dining room (Summerhill Café) was completed. This space provides an additional area at break and lunchtime for students to eat food purchased from the Café or their own packed lunches. The furniture in this area has been chosen to create a modern eating space which will appeal to young people and will provide a relaxed area for students to eat and socialise.
At Summerhill we continue to strive to maximise the use of our building to enhance learning for all and to provide an exciting environment for everyone to work in.
