Music legend Johnny Marr opened the new £8m Brentwood College on Saturday and paid tribute to the “work, commitment and vision” that has seen the project come to fruition.
The former Smiths guitarist, whose niece Jodie has attended the special needs school, was the surprise guest at an event to mark the relocation of the school from Timperley to Cherry Lane in Sale.
Plans for the new state-of-the-art building were first put to Trafford Council a decade ago but it’s only in the last couple of years that funding has been secured and the 18-month building programme completed.
And opening the new school in front of students and parents, Marr said: “I want to say congratulations to the school and everyone involved – I know it’s been a bit of a hard road but it’s a very impressive thing and I’m really pleased for you. It’s a privilege, a pleasure and an honour to open the new Brentwood College.”
Watch Marr open the school:
The new school boasts a £1m hydrotherapy pool, cycle track, amphitheatre and food tech room among a range of improved facilities and can accommodate 150 students, compared with the previous school’s official capacity of 80.
It has now also been registered as a college, allowing it to take students aged 19-plus.
“It’s an amazing place and a really lovely thing to see,” added Marr. “I’m so pleased for everyone because it takes a hell of lot of work, commitment and vision. It’s nice to be involved with people who are so selfless and work tirelessly to help less fortunate people.
“I think you can judge your own country by how the the less fortunate are treated and places like this are a really good advert for British people. I know first hand through my family about the work that the people involved do, and it puts your faith back in human nature. It’s the start of something and hopefully the community can take pride in what’s on their doorstep.”
Marr was given a tour of the new school and tried out one of the new disability bikes bought for the school – funding for which was partially raised by Altrincham Today’s participation in the Great North Swim earlier this year.
Last year he had been a vociferous campaigner against council plans to withdraw transport for a group of disabled teenagers at the school, of which his niece Jodie Lockwood was one.
Jodie and the rest of the group eventually won their battle to have the transport reinstated.
“I got an amazing response and a lot of support for the attention I brought to what the council were doing, and to be fair the council overturned their decision, and so many people were grateful,” Marr added.
“To me it’s beyond politics, it’s just about being a decent person. The bottom line is, these kids are going to have a much better day to day experience because of places like this. There’s no downside.”
Headteacher Hilary Moon said the road to the new school opening had been a “very long journey”.
“We first put a business plan together 10 years ago,” she said. “At the time the response was ‘not in your lifetime’, but then the SEN review came out a couple of years ago when they identified a need for a new special school and they’ve really produced now a state-of-the-art school for children with disability.”
See more photos from the opening day event:
