PLANS are being drawn up for a new £20 million school in York, as one of the city's oldest secondaries looks to move home.

All Saints RC School, which has 1,250 pupils, is currently on a split site with Years 7, 8 and 9 taught in buildings behind the Bar Convent in Nunnery Lane and Years 10 to 13 at Mill Mount.

Head teacher Bill Scriven said a shortlist of potential sites had been drawn up and negotiations were on-going.

However, because the school takes pupils from across York, Malton, Pocklington, Tadcaster, Pickering and Selby, it would need to be as close to the city centre as possible because of its good transport links and its proximity to railway and bus stations.

He said: “One of the limitations with our current school is the quality of the buildings.

“We have still got 1960s science labs and we don’t have a sports hall here. Mill Mount was a manor house originally and the school is very expensive to run for heating and maintenance – in short, the buildings are wearing out.

“If we had a school on one site we would be able to have suites of classrooms instead of the current situation where we have two of everything; two science blocks, two dining rooms, two staff rooms.

“There would also be a lot less time and energy lost getting staff between sites for lessons.

“Running a split-site school costs us about £300,000 extra a year, and we get a £137,000 split site allowance from the council with the rest of the money coming from our budget. If we were in one building we would be able to avoid a lot of the current duplication of costs.”

Presently, for games lessons, the school buses children to Sim Balk Lane and they also use the Railway Institute in nearby Queen Street. The plan would be to have a sports centre on the new site that could also be used by the local community. A new site would also allow All Saints to house its sixth form of up to 400 pupils.

The school, the Diocese of Middlesbrough and City of York Council are looking at various funding sources to build the new school. They still face a significant shortfall and intend to visit the Department of Education to seek Government support.

The last new school built in York was Joseph Rowntree School’s £29 million building, which officially opened in May 2010.

Mr Scriven said he expected the the new All Saints building to cost about £20 million.

Kevin Duffy, director of schools for the Diocese of Middlesbrough, said: “The diocese fully support the governing body of All Saints in their ambition to identify and secure more appropriate buildings for the school.

“We are working with governors and City of York Council to see how these ambitions can best be realised but discussions at this point are very much at an early stage with no definite plans in place.

“As any proposal develops the school, diocese and council will ensure the pupils, staff, parents and wider community are fully aware of and involved in the discussion regarding any change to the current arrangements at the school.”

Sister Mary Walmsley, sister in charge at the Bar Convent, said: “There has been a Catholic school on the Nunnery Lane site since the 17th century, and while the sisters are sad that this close association between the Bar Convent and the school will be coming to an end, they are sympathetic to the educational need of All Saints to operate a 21st century school on a new, single site. The sisters wish the school well in securing an appropriate site that will be fit for purpose.”

Kevin Hall, interim director of children and education at City of York Council, said: “We are aware of the school's plans to move to one site and the positive implications this will have for the school long-term, and will continue to support them as they progress these plans at a local and national level.”


History lesson

ALL Saints’ RC School opened in September 1985 after a merger of three existing Catholic schools in York: St George’s, St Margaret Clitherow and the Bar Grammar School.

The school traces its origins to the 17th century, when local businessman Sir Thomas Gascoigne donated £500 to the Bar Convent – England’s oldest surviving Catholic convent, declaring “we must have a school for our daughters,” and there remained a girls-only school at the Nunnery Lane site until the 1970s, when boys were first admitted.

In 1985 it became All Saints’ RC School as a result of the reorganisation of York’s educational system. Its pupil numbers doubled in size and the school expanded into a second site, the former Mill Mount Girls’ Grammar School in Mill Mount Lane.

Currently, ages 11 to 14 are taught at the original Bar Convent site, with ages 14 to 18 taught at Mill Mount.

All Saints is the only Catholic secondary school in York, with a catchment area reaching well into North and East Yorkshire.

The school shares its chapel with the sisters from the convent.