Change language
Actions
Displays
Remove from selection
Add to selection
Abstract

Acland Burghley School is embarking on a new project to improve its buildings – and mark its 50th anniversary.

Next week, Homeland actor Damien Lewis will switch on a light display by students that will play across the famous façade of the Modernist building in Tufnell Park.

It comes as a “Better Spaces” project – a fundraising drive to improve the school – is launched.

The school, designed by award-winning architects Howell, Killick, Partridge and Amis, is due to be considered for listing by English Heritage. Parents and teachers are raising funds to update its facilities.

Headteacher Nicholas John, who arrived in September, said: “Everyone recognises it is a happy school to be in, with great communal spaces. It has lots of places for children to use during free time, it has places to gather together and places for performances. It is not just a box – it is an inspiring place that lends itself well to the curriculum.”

But Mr John added that, with a changing curriculum and educational needs, it was time to improve aspects of the school.

He said: “There are areas like making the acoustics better and general maintenance to do with issues such as heating. We would also like to invest in our science areas.

“The school was built 50 years ago, and while we celebrate that, it also needs to be able to adapt. We want to make some areas more comfortable, improve the electronic infrastructure and make it fit for outstanding education.”

He added: “I am a new head. We have had a period of time with the school regrouping and discovering its confidence again. This is about planning for its long-term future. To teach in this building is a privilege – and an opportunity.”

Architect Stanley Amis, who worked on the school between 1961 and 1966, said: “The construction was a most exciting project.

“I recall clearly how, by straddling the railway lines, we managed to effectively double the size of the site. To this day, my sons, Mark and Philip, who were about 10 and 7 at the time, remember their excitement at how we managed to close down the railway for a whole weekend, and create a platform over the rail tracks to support the gymnasium and playground.”

Designer of the Young Vic theatre, he created a renowned performance space for Acland Burghley.

“I was especially proud of the design for the hexagonal, multi-purpose assembly hall planned to allow the audience to face different directions for drama, assembly and concerts,” he said. “My wife at the time, actress Margaret Wolfit, performed her one-person show of The Mill on the Floss for the pupils on the stage not long after it opened.”

Damien Lewis switches on the light show at 6.30pm on Wednesd