PLANS for Whitehill and Bordon’s new secondary school were unveiled at Mill Chase Academy last Thursday, showing the layout of a building that is expected to have its first intake of students in September 2019.

The project will see Mill Chase Academy relocated to a site in Budds Lane. Although the new building will be smaller than the present one, which has 470 students, there are plans to extend it in phases if necessary so it can accommodate 900 students.

The plans unveiled, at Mill Chase Academy in Mill Chase Road, Bordon, were pre-application plans and the 50 members of the public who went to the exhibition could look at the outline plan which shows glass-fronted buildings set in tree-lined avenues and a large sports field.

A representative from Hampshire County Council’s strategic design department said: “The majority of people were pleased that the town was getting a new modern school and that there was going to be room for expansion if the numbers of pupils increased, which they felt will do when the new Green Town is built.”

Last week Mill Chase principal Paul Hemmings said discussions were well under way between senior staff and governors at the academy and senior staff from the University of Chichester Academy Trust and Hampshire County Council.

“The proposed new buildings will have access to wonderful new facilities so that we can enhance even further the new learning experiences of young people and the wider community in our town,” he said.

“Our continued improvement in academic standards and the anticipated new buildings mean this is an exciting time for the long-term future of our school.”

He stressed that one of his most important roles as principal was to ensure the very best teachers remained at the academy while appointing “high quality talented staff.”

The county council’s executive member for education, Peter Edgar, said: “With the new Mill Chase Academy, we have an excellent opportunity to replace an ageing building, much of which is over 60 years old, on a small site, with a new, sustainably built, energy efficient building on a site that offers plenty of room for expansion, tailored to the needs of the school as it grows.

“Rebuilding on the existing site would be restrictive in terms of the layout of new facilities, and construction would be disruptive and would be compromised by the need to keep the school operational. This would also pose a potential health and safety risk.

“Furthermore, the contributions agreed with the housing developers can only be made available for the early provision of a new school on Budds Lane and cannot be used to refurbish the existing school or to rebuild on the existing site.

“The proposed new building is being designed to meet the very latest standards in school design, and the demands of the modern day curriculum. The proposed new campus arrangement of buildings would also be more efficient in terms of maintenance and running costs, having been designed with energy efficiency in mind. An advantage of the new site is the scope for sports facilities, which considerably exceed those at the current site. We propose to include more sports courts and hall space.”

The consultation period runs until October 21.