The new Creative Arts Suite at King Edward VI College in Nuneaton was officially opened today by The Earl of Wessex.
Students, staff and governors of the college all gathered for the official opening.
Located on the King Edward Road site, the state of the art Creative Arts Suite contains 6 new classrooms including a sound proofed Music Studio, a Dance Classroom, Photography Studio, Media Suite and a Film Studio that are equipped with all the latest technology and equipment.
After a visit to the historic part of the college, His Royal Highness, then had a tour of the new building and spoke to Music Technology students before moving upstairs to meet A level Photography students.
Talking to student Sarah Garrett, The Earl of Wessex asked about the project Sarah was working on and had a discussion about digital photography.
Sarah said “I spoke primarily about my stop motion project and how it works along with the technology to make a mini movie with images. It was a great experience, we were all really excited about meeting him.”
Photography teacher Jaskirt Boora said “It was a fantastic pleasure to have the His Royal Highness in our College and especially visiting the photography students. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I’m really thankful that he talked to so many of them about their work, which is such a rare opportunity. Not only that but two of the photography students were even able to capture the event, which hopefully gave them a taste of photojournalism too. This was a really special moment for them and I’m delighted the The Earl of Wessex took so much interest in photography and the students work.”
Jack Matt spoke about studio photography and using photo shop to manipulate images. “He seemed really nice and down to earth and was genuinely interested in what I had to say”
Principal Dr Esther Maughan said “It is with great pleasure that we host a visit from The Earl of Wessex to celebrate the opening of the new building for King Edward VI College. I would like to express my thanks for the patience shown by all of our neighbours and I hope that they feel the benefit of a much improved vista, as the new building brings a fresh look to King Edward Road as well as to King Edward VI College or KEGS as we are popularly known.”
The £1.1 million project, funded by the Education Funding Agency, started in September last year and was completed in April of this year by local contractors Wembrook Builders.
Before officially opening the building HRH wished all the students the best of luck in their studies and hoped creative arts students would enjoy the benefit of the new building and its facilities.
Dr Esther Maughan continued “All of our students will benefit from the sleek new entrance and secure environment with a second garden quadrangle that the building creates. The purpose built state of the art facility will be an inspiration to all Media, Film, Photography, Drama and Dance A level students. We are grateful to the Government and the Education Funding Agency for investing in the young people of Nuneaton and the surrounding areas in this way.” If you are interested in finding out more about the college and the wide range of courses on offer come along to the next Open Evening on 19th November 2014.