CELEBRATION was in the air as a school building re-opened after a £2m makeover.
Students at Priestlands School in Lymington got the first glimpse of the Nicholas Building which has been refurbished inside and out.
The pupils had spent nine months studying in temporary classrooms scattered across the school while workmen took over the site, painting walls, replacing carpet and furniture, putting in double glazed windows and doors and kitting rooms out with new fixtures and fittings.
They also transformed the outside of the humanities and languages building, replacing exterior walls and spelling out the school's name with two-foot steel letters.
The work came after the academy school received a £1.9m grant from the Education Funding Agency.
Priestlands School has also received a further £1.4m grant to re-roof two other buildings.
Business manager Carole Gibbs said: “We've achieved all we hoped for and more. We've also secured another award to completely re-roof the school's main and technology buildings. This work starts almost immediately.”
Nicholas Building was opened by vice-chair of governors Veronica Crowley and Angie Liddon who will be leaving her role as cafeteria manager after 17 years at the end of May.
Headteacher Chris Willsher said: “For us, academy status was always about securing additional resources and facilities for our students. I'm delighted we've been able to make such huge improvements to the school site.”
The school, which was rated 'good' in its last Ofsted report in 2012, has 1,180 pupils and last year 68 per cent of year 11 students achieved five A* to Cs in their GCSEs.
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