A NEW high school in Barry has marked the finishing of the outer part of the building – with students signing the main beam.

Pencoedtre High School in Barry has been in construction since spring last year – with Bouygues UK taking on the £34m three-storey building.

Student ambassadors have played a big role in linking the school, students and local community to the contractors and students have had Covid-19 safe exclusive access to the siter throughout the construction, allowing them to learn about the different stages of the build and the skills that go into constructing such a big project.

As the “topping out” was finished for the outer part of the build, the student ambassadors were invited along to see the completion and mark their own involvement with the signing of the beam.

Ellie Clark, a year 9 student ambassador, said: “It is fascinating to see how sustainable the new school is going to be with the solar panels on the roof. It makes me really excited to move in and start working.”

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Fellow year 9 pupil Purnima Kumar said: “Everything here is going to be so much better than our old school. It makes me really excited to move in and start working.”

The new site will include a four-court sports hall, all-weather floodlit hockey pitch, grass rugby and football pitches as well as performance spaces for theatre and dance.

Bouygues UK in Wales’ operations director, Mike Baynham, said: “It was wonderful to be able to invite the student ambassadors around the building today. To see their enthusiasm for the school and their excitement about the new resources they will be able to use when completed was great.

“Despite the restrictions, they have been really important in getting the message about the build and what the project team is doing on site to the rest of the student body, and we can’t wait to invite them back soon when more of the internal fixtures are finished so they can see the whole building come to life.”

The new Pencoedtre High School is part of the Vale of Glamorgan Council and Welsh Government’s 21st century schools investment programme. They are also delivering a new building to Whitmore High School and an expansion for Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Morgannwg.