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£1 million award for Sir John Cass School of Education at the University of East London

Monday 25 February 2008

The trustees of Sir John Cass’s Foundation have awarded a grant of £1 million to the University of East London (UEL) 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 the 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.”

For details and pictures contact Daniel Cherry: 020 8223 2194

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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