A NECESSITY
The fire safety refurbishment of the entire building, which has been announced and repeatedly postponed for many years, will begin in May 2025.
In preparation for this, there was a meeting in March 2025 with the education authority and the building construction service, where the head teachers of both schools on the campus were informed when the refurbishment would begin. We are expecting a period of refurbishment over the next few years that will change the building considerably.
We know that construction work is associated with inconvenience. The school management and the responsible persons will work closely together in the near future to minimise the impact of the construction work on lessons and pupils.
In the following, we would like to provide you with the most important information and clarify the most important questions for you.
FAQ
When will it start?The refurbishment will begin in May 2025. However, only the Biesalski School will be affected for the time being.
In addition to the necessary fire protection refurbishment (and removal of pollutants), deferred repairs and other renovation work will also be carried out, i.e.
- the rooms are being repainted,
- the electrics are being replaced,
- New doors (and fire doors) will be installed,
- the ceiling panelling will be renewed and
- the floor, which is very damaged in places, is being renewed.
The campus has been divided into 6 construction phases, which will be completed one after the other (see illustration). It is assumed that one construction phase will be completed per year. The first two phases (i.e. 2025 and 2026) mainly concern the Biesalski School. From May 2025, we will “only” have to do without our music room for one year, as this is located in the first construction phase (east wing). Musical instruments will be stored in other rooms so that they are easily accessible for the music teachers.
Construction phases |
one section = 1 year refurbishment |
| Construction phase 1 & 2 | only Biesalski-School |
| Construction phase 3 | Sports hall & 4 classrooms of QBGS |
| Construction phase 4 | only Biesalski-School |
| Construction phase 5 & 6 | only QBGS |
QBGS will only be increasingly affected from 2027/28, as the third construction phase will affect the sports hall and our classrooms in the atrium.
Alternative rooms are being planned in close collaboration with the planners.
An alternative building consisting of modular classrooms is also to be built in the courtyard, into which the classes whose rooms are currently affected by the construction work will move. This will not happen until the third or fourth construction phase.
Even though we were quite surprised by the short-term realisation of the refurbishment and this means a considerable cut in our everyday school life, we are in good spirits!
We get a more beautiful building with every construction phase!
Our ageing school building/grounds need exactly this refurbishment!
As work will not be carried out everywhere at once in the coming years,
the school authority assumes that the workload will be bearable.
No! QBGS will remain as it is. Our programme will not change or shrink – on the contrary: during this time we want to show all the more that we are a great school with a great programme! There will still be two bilingual classes with 26 children each and one regular primary school class for 26 children from the catchment area!
Good communication is very important to us. Therefore, we will continue to provide information about the current status via our weekly school info email, which is written and sent out by the school management. To this end, we will work closely with all those involved to ensure that the children continue to have a great time here on campus and that they continue to experience great projects/events and, above all, peaceful lessons!
© 2024 Quentin Blake Primary School SESB 06G12