Pupils to move into new Belle Vue high school on site of former cinema as early as this year

Pupils at Manchester's newest high school are to move into their new building several months ahead of schedule it has been announced. Work is currently underway on the new school at Belle Vue, being built on a 12.6 acre site on Hyde Road once home to east Manchester's Showcase Cinema.

The council bought the cinema, which closed when the pandemic hit and never re-opened, and its site with demolition work beginning last year. Before that, the site was also home to the legendary Belle Vue entertainment complex.

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Co-op Academy Belle Vue, which will eventually take in 1,200 pupils, accepted its first raft of Year 7 students last September. They have been taught in temporary premises at Connell College in neighbouring Beswick, whilst their new permanent building is finished.

The pupils were last week invited to a 'topping out' ceremony where they got a bird's eye view of what will become their new home. And council chiefs have now revealed the project, being carried out by construction firm Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd, is ahead of schedule.

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Rather than moving into the new facility next September, as was scheduled, the town hall say work is set to be finished later this year and that pupils at the co-educational school will now move in some time either before the end of this year or early in 2023.

The main school building will be three storeys high and contain a teaching block, an adjoining drama block, and a two-storey sports block that will have a separate entrance so it can be used outside of school hours by the local community.

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