Images have been released showing the new St Julie’s Catholic High School, which will provide education for around 1,000 young people, acting as a hub for families in Woolton.

The £20 million development will construct a new fit-for-purpose building for up to 1,100 pupils, as well as opening up much of the privately owned woodland behind the school to compensate for the loss of part of a neighbouring field.

A three and a four storey building will act as replacement for the old 1960’s design which is no longer fit-for-purpose and in need of substantial repairs and maintenance.

The new buildings have been designed in line with guidance from the Woolton Village Conservation Area and will be further from the Grade 1 listed Woolton Hall than the existing structure.

The complex will also house a multi-use games area and sports hall available for use by the local community, giving the school more external play space than the current building.

Councillor Jane Corbett, Cabinet member for children’s services, said:

“This scheme will deliver a fantastic new school for the area, benefiting hundreds of families who live in and around Woolton, as well as the wider community.

“It is absolutely vital that the area gets a new school and we have been able to come up with a plan which delivers a new school largely on the existing site.

“There is also an exciting opportunity here to develop a new piece of public space which can be used by the whole community, and deliver an increase in the amount of land available for use by local people.”

Head teacher of St Julie’s, Tim Alderman, said:

“We are absolutely delighted with the plans for our new school, which will enable current and future generations of students in this community to benefit from fantastic educational facilities.

“I hope the community will continue to use our range of facilities out of school hours too, as well as enjoy the woodland areas that the Trustees have said could form part of this proposal.”

Concepts for the new public space will include a children’s play area, woodland trail, cycle routes, trim trail and woodland management if necessary. This would be funded as part of the school development as part of a community-led project.

A total rebuild on the current footprint of St Julie’s site would not be possible due to tight site constraints, with a comprehensive survey of the area showing that there are no other suitable site nearby that could deliver a large enough building, or with safe access for pupils and staff.

The recent rebuild project is part of the Liverpool School Investment Programme, one of the Mayor’s key pledges, which would see the construction of at least 12 new schools. It was designed as a rescue package after the scrapping of Wave Six of Liverpool’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project.

The planning application is predicted to be considered in April 2015 and, if approved, would be completed by autumn 2016.

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Words: Peter Cribley