Penwortham Girls' High School to be demolished and rebuilt with government funding

A high school in South Ribble will be demolished and replaced with a brand new 'state of the art' school building.

Penwortham Girls' High School in Cop Lane will be razed and rebuilt after securing funding from the Government's £1 billion School Rebuilding Programme.

The current building, dating back to the 1960s, is home to around 775 pupils but extensive surveys and investigations have concluded the school is no longer fit for purpose.

The new building will be built on its playing fields with work expected to begin later this year. The school will remain open, with the current building used throughout construction.

The project could take nearly two years to complete, with the new school opening its doors by the end of 2025.

Andrea Barnes, business manager at Penwortham Girls' High, says the new school will provide 'fantastic' facilities for pupils. Plans include a new sports hall, six science labs, a dance studio, drama studio, art and technology rooms as well as a large library.

The new building will also benefit from a 'net-zero' design, meaning it will not use any fossil fuels in its operation. Instead it will rely on more environmentally efficient means for producing and storing energy, such as solar and heat pumps.

Mrs Barnes told the Post: "Our school has been included in Round 3 of the Department for Education’s School Rebuilding Programme and following extensive surveys and investigations, we can confirm that this means that we will have a brand new school building.

"As you can imagine, this will be a long process and we are currently in a planning and design phase, with the hope that building will commence later this year and we may be in the new school by the end of 2025.

"There will be a public consultation event at the school before anything is submitted for planning, which should take place in the next couple of months. Details will be published on our website. The school will not receive any funding as this project will be entirely managed by the Department for Education.

"We are delighted that we can look forward to a fantastic new building which will include a sports hall, which we do not currently have, as well as six science labs, a dance studio, drama studio, art and technology rooms as well as a large library.

"As the proposed site for the new building is adjacent to the current school there should be very little disruption to the school and it will be very much business as usual until the new building is ready to move into."

Two other South Ribble schools - Leyland's Wellfield Academy and Moor Hey in Lostock Hall (renamed Applebee Wood Community Specialist School) - were also awarded funding for rebuilds or refurbishments. You can read more about the funding and rebuilds here.

Lancashire County Council, which oversees the running of the school, said it was unable to comment on the plans.