Full refurbishment of Prestatyn High School block completed

A full block refurbishment at Denbighshire’s biggest school has now been completed, seeing over £600,000 invested into the school’s classrooms and facilities.

Entrance to Prestatyn High School

The work on Block 2 at Prestatyn High School began in the summer, and saw extensive redecoration work, including a full internal rip-out and remodel of the whole interior of the block.

The project saw a total rewire, reskimming and refit of three IT classrooms, two home economics classrooms, two office spaces, a staff room, and five other classrooms, undertaken by Bryn Build Ltd.

A total of 12 rooms within the block have been modernised.

Updated IT classroom

During the refurbishment, the equipment and technology within the rooms were modernised and upgraded where needed.

Remodelled Home Economics classroom 

Included in the upgrades to one of the home economics classrooms is a section which includes an accessible rise and fall sink and hob, built to spec during these renovation works.

Accessible rise and fall sink and hob

A new camera operated system has been installed in the home economics classrooms, which projects onto a large screen the movements and actions of the cooking station that the teacher is operating from a camera mounted above. This means students no long need to huddle around one cooking station to fully comprehend cooking instructions, leading to a safer and more accessible learning experience.

New camera operated system

The block officially opened back up to staff and pupils at the start of the new school year.

The refurbishment was designed in conjunction with the teachers at the school, ensuring that the design is compatible with the day-to-day operations of the classrooms.

As well as the block refurbishment work, the drama classroom, which sits above the school hall, has been remodelled, with a brand-new lift block designed, constructed and added to ensure accessible access to the refurbished classroom.

Drama classroom

The new layout of Block 2 was also designed around two lifts which were previously installed, better integrating them into the building and the flow of the classrooms.

Updated ground floor classroom

The projects are funded through the School Capitalised Maintenance Programme and Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme, Repairs and Maintenance Grant, with over £600,000 being invested into the school through these projects.

These projects were led and managed by the Council’s Building Maintenance Team.

Councillor Huw Hilditch-Roberts, Deputy Leader and Lead Member for Education and Children, Welsh Language, Culture and Heritage said:

“This is a significant investment in one of Denbighshire’s biggest schools, which currently sees over 1,600 pupils learning and growing on the site each and every day.

Ensuring that both pupils and teachers can learn and teach in the best possible facilities is imperative to sustain high-quality education within Denbighshire.

Over £600,000 has been invested into the refurbishment of Block 2, which now hosts more modern classrooms and high-quality facilities, which will support teaching and learning for years to come.

We have worked closely with the school to deliver facilities that meet the needs of pupils and staff, and help create the best possible environment for learning with these new upgrades.”

Claire Turner, Headteacher at Prestatyn High School said:

“We are delighted to see the completion of the refurbishment project for Block 2. This space is already being used and enjoyed by our pupils and staff and is now a modern, welcoming and accessible learning environment.

We would also like to thank the Council for its support in delivering this project for our school community as we continue to improve the facilities within the school.”