Lord Kinnock hails £19m school, the one that beat Gove axe on new buildings

Published: 23 July, 2010
by TOM FOOT

HOLLOWAY School celebrated the opening of its new building in style on Friday with a rousing speech from former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, a spine-tingling aria from an 11-year-old Pavarotti-in-the-making and a tearful farewell to a long-standing chairman of governors.

The £19million project is one of the first schools in the country to be completely rebuilt under the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

Specialist science, IT, music, arts, sports and design technology areas have been created, a new hall and swimming pool built and the Edwardian building in Hilldrop Road cleaned and refurbished.

With the axing of hundreds of similar schemes across the country, the significance of securing the modernisation at Holloway was not lost on Lord Kinnock.

He said: “BSF has been hacked back and the stupidity of that is that it will have to be done in 10, 12 or 30 years’ time, when it will be much more expensive. It is with deep sorrow that children will continue to be taught in buildings that are more than 100 years old.” 

He accused the Tories of treating education as if it were fur coats or fancy cars. “What we say is that education gets more valuable the more people who have it,” he added.

He described the new school as a building where he could see genius at work. “This really has got the feel of being a school for the community,” he said. 

Chairman of governors Peter Rees, who is stepping down after 14 years in the post, recalled when Holloway was in special measures and school buildings were “an affront to staff and common decency”.

He said: “We have built something not just for us but for generations of parents and students to come. It has been a long and strenuous journey – but we made it.”

George Ives, who is also standing down as a governor, said: “I remember when the school was bombed – I have seen the building rise from the ashes.”

He was presented with the old Holloway School sign, which he asked to be placed above the memorial in the library to the victims of war.

George and Debbie Kinsella – parents of the 16-year-old Holloway student Ben, who was tragically stabbed to death in 2008 – attended the event. Part of the refurbishment includes the Ben Kinsella Peace Garden, officially open­ed on Friday.

The Holloway School Band and singer Jodi Sinnott-Kennedy had the audience on their feet clapping and dancing. But the most startling performance came from classically-trained Raffaele Scotti, whose rendition of Puccini’s Nessun Dorma “stirred the Welsh blood” of Lord Kinnock.