The island’s only private secondary school, King William’s College, is seeking permission to update its science block.

In its application (20/00079/GB) the school, on the edge of Castletown, said that modernisation is needed to bring King William’s ’in line with modern teaching standards’.

The school building, which includes sections built in the mid 19th century through to the late 1950s, also suffers from additional problems which require rectifying. The issues identified in the application’s support documents include damaged internal finishes caused by water ingress and day to day wear and tear.

Due to a lack of insulation, the building suffers from coldness and there are poor connections between the prep rooms and classrooms in the department.

Changes in building regulations mean the school can make improvements.

The application said: ’Undertaking works to King William’s College will provide a refreshed and improved science department for staff and students. This will provide enhanced learning experiences for current and future students.’

Improvements to the science block will see the current classrooms modified with teaching spaces altered to create laboratory and traditional ’classroom’ spaces.

Other changes include improving the science block’s fume cupboards, updating the ageing classroom furniture and incorporating modern heating into the rooms along with changes to the classrooms in order to make them ’lighter’.

However, while the school is seeking to improve some inclusive elements, accessible improvements for the building are set to be limited.

The application added: ’Due to the budgetary constraints of the projects and taking cognizance of the historic building context, whole scale inclusivity improvements are not proposed as part of the works (lifts, level thresholds, corridor/door widening etc).’

As KWC is a registered building, the bid is subject to registered building consent (20/00080/CON).