PUPILS learning in makeshift classrooms at a Winchester school are to be provided with a £1 million new teaching block.

Work is expected to get under way this summer after education chiefs backed the development at Henry Beaufort Secondary School.

The long-awaited scheme will enable the school to get rid of three temporary buildings, which pupils have been using for years due to the shortage of permanent teaching space.

The school, at Harestock, currently has 1,037 pupils on roll, but this figure is expected to rise to 1,107 by September 2004.

The two-storey extension, to be built at the southern end of the site on land used as a hard play area, will provide the school with an additional 129 places.

It will include new classrooms for music, drama and art, as well as a kiln room, recording room, offices, stores and toilets.

A staircase is to be located at both ends of the building and, subject to funding, a lift is to be installed to provide access to the first floor for people with physical disabilities.

The scheme, approved by Hampshire County Council education buildings sub-committee, also allows for internal alterations to the existing premises to provide better-organised teaching accommodation. A new hard play-court area is to be constructed at the northern end of the site to replace the play area that will be lost.

Special arrangements are to be made for the delivery of materials to the site during the construction period.

It is anticipated that work on the extension will start in August and will take about a year to complete.