Sir James Dyson donates nearly £2m extra for school upgrade

The James Dyson Foundation - the charitable arm of Sir James’ technology company Dyson - has committed an additional £1.8m to fund a new science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics centre and expansion at Malmesbury Primary School in Tetbury Hill.

This extra money will go towards specialist laboratories and advanced technology, along with an increase from 420 to 630 places at the school.

According to the foundation, established by Sir James, the additional funding for the school’s upgrade brings its total pledge to £7.8m - its biggest local donation to date.

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Malmesbury Primary School has submitted a planning application to Wiltshire Council to extend the school to 630 places by building nine extra classrooms and associated facilities, plus a multipurpose hall.

The school also wants to make internal alterations to the current building, create a new car park and vehicle access from Gleiser View, reconfigure the existing car park, create new pedestrian and cycle routes and make landscaping improvements, including new play areas and a multi-use games area.

The James Dyson Foundation said the school’s new STEAM centre and classrooms will increase its capacity ‘to help more local families access education in Malmesbury as the town rapidly grows with new housing developments’.

Two classrooms at the school will be converted into specialist STEAM laboratories equipped with technology such as virtual reality headsets.

Dyson engineers will also partner directly with teachers and pupils, developing educational activities bringing science, engineering and invention to life.

STEAM is an expanded approach to teaching science, technology, engineering and mathematics (also known as STEM).

The STEAM centre at the school is designed to enrich the national curriculum, blending arts and science with real-world problem-solving, innovation and creativity.

Whereas these subjects are usually taught separately, Sir James believes this cross-disciplinary approach inspires children to pursue science and engineering.

In response to community feedback, the school’s grounds will also now include a new footpath linking new housing to established areas of Malmesbury.

As of October, a quarter of children enrolled at the primary had a parent who worked at Dyson, whose UK research, design and development campus is located near the school.

Sir James - who appeared on the BBC’s Countryfile programme on Sunday, June 28 - recently guest edited BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and took BBC journalist Nick Robinson to a workshop at the school.

Commenting on his latest donation, the inventor said: “I’m delighted to be able to help such a brilliant school in the area, which I visited recently to see a workshop led by Dyson engineers.

“The local support for the STEAM centre and the school’s expansion is tremendous.

“Dyson is proud to be supporting our community and looks forward to construction getting underway.”

“We’re so grateful to James Dyson for his continued, extremely-generous support,” Steve Heal, headmaster of Malmesbury Primary School, said.

“The STEAM centre will bring exciting opportunities for our pupils and those in nearby schools, while the expansion will futureproof school provision for families in the area as Malmesbury grows with significant new housing developments.”

A £6 million donation from the Dyson Foundation for Malmesbury Primary School’s expansion was accepted by the Conservative Government in January 2024.

Wiltshire Council - then also a Conservative administration - welcomed the contribution but said it had concerns about how the new facilities would impact nearby schools.

The Department for Education said it was happy with the arrangement, so long as Malmesbury Primary School shared the new science facilities with neighbouring schools.

The James Dyson Foundation said the school’s upgrade was approved by then-Secretary of State for Education Gillian Keegan, who was backed by predecessors Michael Gove and Baron Kenneth Baker.

“There is no change to the approval for the expansion and STEAM Centre,” the Department for Education reportedly confirmed on Monday, June 22 this year.

According to the foundation, 94 per cent of local respondents backed the expansion in a public consultation from 2024.

However, respondents to the consultation on the planning application for the school have not been totally happy with the proposals.

One comment from April expressed ‘concern over more cars using the estate with the car park access for staff’.

Dyson said planning permission for the school’s expansion project and STEAM centre is ‘set to be granted by Wiltshire Council in the coming weeks’.