When the steel girders pictured above in a Rushden field have been joined by many more and clothed to resemble the model pictured below, the result will be - half a school.

The other half, some hundreds of yards distant, has been in use more than forty years, but remains, with one exception, the most modern permanent school building in the town.

Provided for the teaching of practical subjects, the new building comes to the rescue of North End Secondary Modern School for Girls, where the accommodation has been outgrown.

The site is pasture land on the fringe of the town between Spencer Road and Hayway, and to make it accessible an approach road has to be constructed through a corner of Spencer Park.

This will be Rushden’s first three storey school and a striking example of modern architecture, looking rather like a domino box, with lid and bottom removed, lying sidewise on stilts.

The long flat roof will be relieved only by a small projecting tank room.

Huge window

Each side of the two upper storeys will in effect be one huge window, the total glass area for this purpose running to 3,640 square feet.

As all rooms on these floors go through from side to side, each will have two glass walls.

Glass will also be used as freely as possible on the ground floor, where most of the departments, including the two front entrances, will be recessed slightly within the “stilts.”

For the main block, the school has a length of 143ft., a width of 32ft., and an overall height of about 42ft.

The upper floors provide for two domestic science rooms, an art room, a library, needlework room, two small classrooms, and a staff room with cloakroom and toilet facilities.

No corridors

Corridors are dispensed with, as all rooms open off the two staircases.

On the ground floor the plan shows a science laboratory, cloakrooms, toilets, changing rooms and showers.

At the rear a single-storey heating chamber and fuel store of brick with concrete roof recedes into the rising ground.

Another single-storey appendage was planned for the front of the building and is seen on the model, but it has been dispensed with for reasons of economy.

Other changes since the model was made are that both end walls (of facing brick) will go down to ground level. The projection at the extreme left of the model will not materialise, and the hollow on the right will be utilised.

Almost fireproof

With floors and roof of concrete, the building will be practically fireproof. Suspended fibre board has been chosen for the ceilings.

In colours, as in lighting, the school will express the most advanced ideas. The plastered partition walls are intended to carry bright colours, and plastic tiles of varied hue will cover the floors.

Part of the ground in front of the school will be laid out as a terrace with small car park and other facilities, but there is no present intention of developing the remainder of the site, as a large neighbouring area is already in use as a playing field for the parent school.

The school was designed by Mr. A. N Harris, the county architect, and Mr. John Neville is the architect in charge.

Mr. A. Wilson, an assistant on the staff, constructed the model.