AMVC – a vision for the future

Back in April 2007, your Tribune reported on the start of the most extensive and exciting building and refurbishment project that AMVC had embarked upon since the college opened in 1949.

Inside Refectory at AMVC

Not before time, the old part of the College has been little touched since then, and still looks like the hospital it was intended to be. The problem has been that AMVC has quietly and successfully done its job for 60 years, so various authorities have not thought it necessary to spend serious money on the fabric. It has been an everlasting surprise, and a tribute to the staff, that AMVC turns out such good young people from such grim facilities. It is still up near the top of the league tables, still turning out world-class sportsmen and women, and still producing grade A citizens who keep Britain ticking along.

We reported back in 2007 that the government had awarded £8.5 million to the College to replace outdated facilities and to refurbish existing buildings. The new buildings were to be erected to the rear of the existing campus, and consist of a new refectory, sixth form and E-learning centre, a ten classroom Science Faculty, 200 seat lecture theatre/media centre and a second drama studio.
That phase is about to be completed. The school invited Glinton Parish Council (and your Deputy Editor) to have a look.
We have to tell you that it is an awesome facility. The College has kept very tight control of all stages, from design to build, and it shows.
For example, the minimal disruption caused to the village during this major build programme is due in no small part to the fact that the College appointed their own project engineer Gary Wentworth, who did what every good project engineer does, in making a difficult building programme look extremely easy!
The buildings are of modern design and traditional materials, none of your trendy multicoloured chocolate box designs for this end of the city! What you do notice is the clever use of light and space, and the eye for detail. For example, there are no unsighted corners where nefarious activities can go on, there are standard size classrooms with a traditional ‘face the front’ design, next to less formal seminar rooms, which the school hopes will become good letting facilities for the community.
The theatre will have automatic retracting seats, like the Cresset, and has been designed with a cinema quality sound and vision system. Interestingly, there isn’t a stage; apparently the theatre experts within the College are of the opinion that space matters more than a fixed stage.
The refectory has a mezzanine, and ceiling to floor windows that let light flood in upon the diners, with a proper piazza area outside.
The science and IT rooms are traditional in shape, but very modern in the use of natural light, and generously proportioned.
At the same time as the new build, Gary and his crew have been turning their attention to refurbishment. That shows some clever touches. The refurbished toilets have been designed as proper adult facilities that you would find in any airport or motorway services, the students now have a proper locker room, so cyclists, for example, have somewhere secure to store helmets, bags and wet weather gear, the grim, low light, prison style 1948 corridors are being made into light airy thoroughfares with modern lighting levels that should induce good humour as students move around the school.
Arthur Mellows is in my experience a generally happy place; you just get the feeling that it is going to get a whole lot happier.
The phase that we saw will soon be occupied. Refurbishment will be ongoing, and then five new classrooms will be built during the next few months.
The Head of College, Mike Sandeman, and Deputy Jonathon Oakley, spelled out the vision for the future. In addition to other educational opportunities provided, the College has become a foundation school with technology status. The idea is to offer diplomas (worth five GCSEs) to 14 to 19 year-old students who wish to specialise in, say, manufacturing, with all the hard won skills in, for example, Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing that will entail. The College is aware that teaching such skills will require partnerships with industry, and are already talking to local companies.
At the same time, there is a drive to become the best neighbours possible, and to reach out to the local community.
Already senior students are asking if they can write for the Tribune, and the Head of College is going to make the revamped College magazine, ‘The Voice’ available to whoever wants it, not least on the Parish Council website.
There is a very generous feel to this exercise. Our dear old college has moved a long way from the original 450 students in 1949, when everyone had a ration card, but it is still a village college and a place of nurture for the whole community.
We hope that Chair of Governors, Gilmour McLaren, will write in future editions of the Tribune as plans develop - and develop they will. This school is going to be a beacon of even greater excellence. Watch this space.
Andrew Warn