As part of the Founder’s Weekend celebrations, many parents and alumnae took the Director of Estates, Mr Alastair Heath up on the invitation to don a hard hat and venture into the Centre for Learning building site to see how it is progressing for themselves. The guided tour took in every floor and room in the building from the Plant Room and School Shop to the Café, the Auditorium and the Library space on the top floor. Now that all the floors have been screeded and the stud walls built, it only takes a little imagination to visualise how the spaces will be used by girls and staff once the building is open for business in the second half of the Michaelmas Term. Mrs Philippa Toogood, Director of the Centre for Learning (Designate) also accompanied the tours and was able to talk in more detail about exactly how we are going to use this fantastic state-of-the-art building to facilitate the enhancement and enrichment of learning for all and the overarching rationale that it will touch and transform every girl’s education at Downe House.

Mr Heath fielded lots of questions from whether the PV Solar Panels will supply all the building’s power needs to whether parents will be able to use the café. The answer being yes to both!