The trustees of Sir John Cass's Foundation have awarded a grant of £1 million to the University of East London toward a state-of-the-art centre for Education teaching and research at Stratford.
The Sir John Cass School of Education is now under construction at UEL's Stratford campus, and will be complete by the end of 2008. The campus, which houses UEL's Schools of Law, Psychology and Health and Bioscience, also includes the Victorian grade 2 listed University House, Passmore Edwards and Central Library buildings, the historic heart of our university.
The £8 million building, designed by award-winning Richard Murphy Architects, is organised around a central atrium with café, information, exhibition area for work by students and local children, and from the ground floor it is possible to see all the activities of the School on the floors above, which house spacious teaching spaces, offices, student consultation rooms and a music performance space. A second new building will accommodate 400 computers, a 400 seat lecture theatre, seminar rooms and a new University entrance foyer, bringing the total project cost for the two buildings to £16.5 million.
Ann Slater, Dean of the School of Education at UEL, said: "This will provide a tremendous resource for schools and communities throughout the region. It will enable us to work together with our partners in schools, colleges and local authorities to innovate and improve the education of young people in London.
Over the past two decades, UEL's School of Education has developed an outstanding reputation for preparing teachers to educate young people in the multi-ethnic and multilingual culture of urban schools, and is one of the UK 's leading providers of initial teacher training for students from minority ethnic backgrounds, and in shortage subjects such as Religious Education, Mathematics, Science, Information and Communication Technology, Design and Technology, Food and Textiles, Music, English and Modern Foreign Languages.
Professor Martin Everett, Vice-Chancellor of the University of East London, said: "We are delighted to have been awarded this funding from Sir John Cass's Foundation, which provides vital support to education in East London.
"The Sir John Cass School of Education will be a unique hub for teacher training and development, as well as a community resource for children in schools across our region. It is an honour to recognise the huge contribution that the Foundation is making to teaching and children's services in London."
Professor Manuel Alvarado, a governor of the trustees of Sir John Cass's Foundation, said: "We are delighted to support the University of East London, which has a proven record of achievement in education, and is a major force for social, cultural and economic development. We are confident that the Sir John Cass School of Education will be a new milestone in our Foundation's work and another lasting legacy of Sir John Cass's vision.
"We believe this new School in the heart of East London, an area with enormous potential, will prove to be a catalyst for change not only in the immediate locality but throughout the boroughs supported by our Foundation.
Angela Drizi, Head of Learning and Schools Service, Children and Young People, London Borough of Newham, said: "The University of East London is a key partner in providing education in our borough. We have found that UEL's trainee teachers are really well prepared for their placements and we are delighted to be employing increasing numbers of UEL graduates as teachers in our primary and secondary schools. UEL is making a real difference to improving the supply of excellent teachers in our region."
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