DfE visit to Carew Academy’s new school building
Carew Academy were delighted to welcome Mark Norman, Matthew Grew and Matthew Mitchell from the Department for Education (DfE) who were keen to tour Carew’s new purpose-built school in Sutton.
Our DfE visitors were greeted by James Kearns, Principal of Carew Academy, John Prior, CEO of OHC&AT, members of OHC&AT’S senior leadership team and two of the school’s student leaders, Ben and Sofia, who presented them with handmade ‘Welcome to Carew’ cards.
To ensure they received the full Carew experience, our visitors first stop was to ‘Carew Brew’, a student-led café located next to the reception. Here, older students prepare barista-style coffees and beverages for staff and visitors, gaining valuable work experience and developing independent life skills. James Kearns explained that the space also serves as the venue for the school’s breakfast club, enriching student engagement.
The student leaders were eager to take their esteemed visitors on a tour of the school including to the library, the sensory outdoor learning garden, the sports hall, the dedicated drama and dance studio, the ‘Skills for Life’ classroom (designed as a studio flat to help students develop practical independent-living skills)—finally squeezing in the last act of Carew’s talent competition, during which our visitors were notably amused by the slapstick comedy complete with custard pie throwing!
John Prior, CEO of OHC&AT says, “We feel privileged to have showcased the success of the DfE’s investment into our new school building for Carew Academy that provides fantastic facilities and a well-equipped modern learning environment for the students.”
James Kearns also added, “It was fantastic our visitors saw the school day in action and took the opportunity to engage directly with some of our students who clearly took great pride in showing them around. We were also able to explain the thought and attention to detail we put into the school building which places children’s needs at the very heart of its design.”
Before the tour concluded, the motivation behind Carew’s collaborative art concept named ‘Project Butterfly’ was explained, as numerous Banksy-inspired works of art across the school were pointed out. Designed to help the school community transition into their new school building, these artworks provide familiar visual reference points and illustrate the transformation from their previous school (caterpillar) into their new school (butterfly).
