Cockermouth School has been successful in securing capital funding from the government’s Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) to carry out thousands of pounds of improvements to their heating system.
Head Dr Petrie said: “Approximately one third of the submitted bids were approved in this funding round, and I am delighted that our bid was successfully approved by the Department for Education (DfE) and will be fully funded at a cost of £700,000.
“We are in discussions with the project management team to start the project next week and to try and complete the most disruptive work over the summer holiday period.”
He added the bid is part of an ongoing plan to raise the profile of the school within the DfE and highlighting the need for investment is part of a bigger strategy to continue to work closely with politicians and civil servants to ensure that Cockermouth School, and its many successes, is in people’s thoughts when they consider any future building of new schools.
He added: “This is a wonderful opportunity to improve our learning and working environment.
“After a few months of difficulties and challenges, it is fantastic to be able to end the academic year with such positive news.”
Since converting to an academy, the school has been eligible to apply for extra capital funding from the government’s CIF. This pot of money is always hugely over-subscribed and the fund’s area of focus has changed from year to year.
Dr Petrie said each year they have written bids valued at around £100,000 to try and obtain a slice of this money and each time they have not been successful.
However: “This year we wrote a bid that we felt met the criteria and in contrast to the smaller bids of previous years, we opted to apply for a significant remodelling of the heating system for our school, the replacement of most of the old pipework and the installation of new boilers and a new heating management system. In total, the bid came in at around £700,000 of capital investment.”
Source: https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/18592923.700-000-school-improvements/