Welcome to your new home - Institute of Education

Friday, 10 February 2012

Ann Rolph and Ruth Hine, Teaching Resource Base Technicians in the Institute of Education

The University of Reading's Institute of Education has moved back to its original home on London Road after a £30 million refit.

The University's ancestral home has been transformed into a new teaching environment for the twenty-first century.

Professor Andy Goodwyn, Head of the Institute of Education, said: "It's great to be finally settled in to our new home at the beautiful London Road campus."

The transformation, which has taken more than a year to complete, has involved the conservation of the historic facades of many of the original buildings as well as internal refurbishment to create top-quality facilities to train the teachers of tomorrow.

The historic quads, cloisters and lecture halls, which formed the University's first campus after it was donated by the Palmer family in 1904, have now been given a new lease of life.

This investment will further improve the Institute's reputation as one of the leading education training and research centres in the country - it is currently ranked third in the Guardian University Guide 2012.

The original Edwardian buildings have been refurbished to create spaces for the teaching of subjects such as music, PE, drama, languages, sciences, ICT and art.

Also included is a beautiful new Teaching Resource Base (TRB), the space in which trainee teachers can source and prepare their lesson materials. Ann Rolph and Ruth Hine, who had spent 30 years of combined service at the Bulmershe TRB are delighted with the move; "We have much more space in a clean, bright environment in which to display our resources;" said Ruth.

"We are still sorting and are having fun rearranging everything. The Facilities Management Team in charge of the move worked wonders making sure all of out things arrived safely." said Ann.

Professor Goodwyn added; "For our students and staff, it is wonderful to have such fantastic facilities so close to the town centre, but we are also looking forward to being able to share our facilities with the local community.

"As well as providing top-quality training for teachers of the future - the majority of whom stay in the region's primary and secondary schools after graduating - this investment will have great spin-off benefits to local schools that use our professional development courses and can access our resources and expertise."

Look out for news of an open day later in the month when staff will be invited to visit the London Road Campus to see the new facilities.