School's new study centre named in honour of former head

THE new school study centre at Lymington’s Priestlands School has been named in honour of former headteacher Chris Willsher.

Town mayor Cllr Anne Corbridge and other councillors joined Chris for the opening ceremony of the facility.

The school council identified that students needed a modern and vibrant space for personal study and group work before and after school.

They drew up specifications and chose designs which were presented to the town council for funding through the ‘big pot grant’.

Lymington and Pennington Town Council agreed to match-fund the project – contributing £23,000 – and the library was refurbished to create a new, bright and student-friendly study space.

It is called the Chris Willsher Study Centre in recognition of the 19 years’ service he gave to the school as headteacher before retiring in the summer.

His successor, Peter Main, said: “This is the perfect way to recognise the legacy Chris has left us.

"We are delighted to have been able to work in partnership with the local council to deliver such a high-quality study space – it is going to make a huge difference for many of our students.”

The new study centre is open before school and afterwards until 5pm every day for students to read, complete homework, work on research or borrow a laptop.

Priestlands School head boy Tom Renshaw said: “The study centre gives us somewhere we want to go to study and makes us feel like we are in a college or university environment. It is superb.”

This article was updated on 3rd January 2020 to correct a misspelling in the picture caption