Council Leader officially opens Hawley Primary School
Camden Council Leader, Councillor Georgia Gould, last night (Wednesday, 17 January) officially opened Hawley Primary School’s award-winning new building.
The new building replaces Hawley Infants School, which was based at its former Camden Town site for more than 100 years. The infants school had outgrown its previous site, with no space for expansion and no linked junior school for pupils to attend once they reached aged seven.
The new primary school, in Hawley Road, is an ‘all-through’ primary school for up to 210 pupils, with a 26-place nursery. It currently has 176 children up to age nine and these pupils, who would previously have had to go to a new school when they turned seven, will now be able to stay on at Hawley until age 11.
Headteacher Anne Fontaine, who was head of the infants school for 17 years before moving to the new primary school building, said: “Our older pupils are enjoying being in Year 4 now and they will be our first Year 6 class. It is lovely to be growing into an all-through primary school and seeing the children progress with us instead of leaving at age seven.”
I am delighted that the new Hawley Primary School has such a fantastic new building. Local parents will be pleased that the new site is able to educate their children from nursery age, right through to when they’re old enough for secondary school. Camden has some of the best primary schools in the country and I’m certain that Hawley Primary is going to educate and inspire children for many years to come.
The new building, which first opened for pupils in November 2016, won the Outstanding Design Award in last year’s Camden Business Awards for the school’s architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris.
As well as being restricted to infant pupils only, the previous building was in need of modernisation and ongoing investment. An opportunity arose for the new Hawley Primary School to be built, just 300 metres from the previous site, as part of the Hawley Wharf redevelopment and funded by Hawley Wharf developer, LabTech.
The energy efficient new building includes improved classroom facilities for teaching and learning around a central courtyard area. Each classroom has its own outdoor space, including rooftop terraces, and there is also hard play space, a multi-games area and garden.
The project has also converted the neighbouring Grade II-listed former Georgian home for school use and the old decorative iron gates from the infants school have been relocated to the new school.
Chen Moravsky, President and CEO of LabTech, said: “LabTech is really pleased to be able to deliver and build state-of-the-art Hawley Primary School in the heart of Camden as part of our engagement and commitment to the local community. We have been working with the local community and the council to design the school by creating an environment which will foster learning and give children the best possible start in their education.”