The University of Cambridge Primary School is a three-form

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

, UK. Funded by the local education authority, it is run as a free school by the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a public collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world's third oldest surviving university and one of its most pr ...

and is the first University Training School for primary in the UK. With a planned capacity of 630 pupils, the school is also used for teacher training and acts as a centre for educational research.

History

Following the University's 800th anniversary in 2009, plans were formed to address the issue of the lack of affordable accommodation for its staff and post-graduate students. The 150-hectare

North West Cambridge Development The North West Cambridge Development is a University of Cambridge site to the north west of Cambridge city centre in England. The development is meant to alleviate overcrowding and rising land prices in Cambridge. The first phase resulted from ...

between Madingley Road and Huntingdon Road was identified as an area for development, and in February 2013 formal planning approval was granted for development of the site to include 1500 homes for university staff, 1500 homes for private sale, and accommodation for 2000 graduate students. To help support this, a primary school was also included in the plans, and work began on the site following a ground-breaking ceremony on 14 November 2014. The school opened with the new school year in September 2015 with two Reception classes, one Year One class, and one Year Two class. In September 2016 three Reception classes were added. Over time the school will fill as the initial intake becomes older until there are three classes in each year up to Year Six.

Building

The school was created by architects

Marks Barfield Marks Barfield Architects is a London-based architectural firm founded by husband and wife David Marks and Julia Barfield. Their work has included the London Eye, the treetop walkway in Kew Gardens, the i360 observation tower in Brighton, Engl ...

, designers of the London Eye, and is circular in shape enclosing a central courtyard. Drawing inspiration from Mandy Swann's book ''Creating learning without limits'', the school encompasses a "learning street", a central space that runs between the classrooms that themselves open directly onto the space without the need for doors. The school building received the 2017

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

East Award for its design and build.

References

{{authority control Primary schools in Cambridgeshire Schools in Cambridge Free schools in England Educational institutions established in 2015 2015 establishments in England