On Wednesday 1 March, Co-op Academy Belle Vue opened its doors for the official Opening Gala of its brand new building on Hyde Road, East Manchester. 

With local residents, parents, staff and community members in attendance, the night included tours of the multi-million pound facilities, student performances and talks from colleagues, including a speech from the Co-op’s CEO, Shirine Khoury-Haq.

The new building has capacity for 1200 students, serving the East Manchester community. It consists of a three-storey main building including reception, community hub, library and dining hall, with teaching and drama blocks. It boasts state of the art sports facilities with Sports England-standard pitches and a multi-use games area.

The building was constructed by Sir Robert McAlpine, working with Co-op Academies Trust and Manchester City Council. The partnership between the building developers, Council and Trust won the Best Framework Collaboration Project by the Pagabo Awards in 2022.

 

 

Headteacher, Scott Fletcher, said:

“What an amazing opportunity for us to grow and develop a culture that creates experts in knowledge and character. We have achieved so much in such a short period of time and could not have done it without the support of the Trust, Belle Vue staff, families and our truly amazing students.”

CEO of Co-op, Shirine Khoury-Haq, said of the evening:

“Tonight was an incredibly inspiring evening. Looking at the fantastic facilities, seeing how happy the students are and how engaged the staff and community members are. It was extremely inspiring to see.”

On what it means to be a Co-op Academy, Shirine said:

“The reason we run our businesses is so that we can deliver on our vision of ‘Co-operating for a fairer world’ and the academies are a wonderful demonstration of that.

“We’re all about providing for and building our communities, with a strong focus on youth. To see our co-operative values so integrated into the curriculum is fantastic. The children are growing and learning and it means a great deal because it’s what we’re all about.”

 

In true cooperative fashion, Belle Vue is currently housing primary school, St Agnes, who’s own building is currently ‘sick’ as the primary pupils put it during the Gala. They performed a musical number for guests and thanked Co-op Academy Belle Vue for sharing their ‘fancy home’.

 

Dr Chris Tomlinson, CEO of Co-op Academy Trust, said:

“It’s been a really positive and inspiring evening at Belle Vue. Our co-operative values were so evident to see amongst students who were the real stars of the evening, looking so happy in their new home. Fantastic work from Headteacher Scott and the whole-school staff who’ve shown a real example of succeeding together. It’s brilliant that the new facilities will provide a place to deliver ambitious and aspirational young futures for the students.”