£1.5m schools investment (From Wiltshire Times)

£1.5m schools investment

9:48am Tuesday 15th August 2006 in Wiltshire By Morwenna Blake

WHILE children enjoy their long summer break, a massive programme of improvements to their schools is being carried out.

Almost £1.5 million is being spent on building projects at schools in west and north Wiltshire including The Grove Primary School in Trowbridge, Christchurch in Bradford on Avon and Box Highlands, Corsham.

Nigel Hunt, head of school buildings with Wiltshire County Council, said: "These improvements will give pupils and teachers better facilities in which to learn and teach.

"The council is committed to protecting and enhancing the quality of education in this county and upgrading school buildings is one of the ways it is seeking to achieve this."

At Christ Church, which has nearly 400 pupils, the local education authority is spending £325,000 on a six-month project to replace mobile classrooms with a permanent classroom and staff room extension.

The 128 pupils at Box Highlands School will also benefit from an extension that will see mobiles replaced by two permanent classrooms in work costing £300,000. In Trowbridge work has already begun on a £650,000 project to replace a double mobile classroom with a classroom, staff room and reception extension.

Meanwhile in Melksham work is continuing on a multi-million project to build a new secondary school for the town. It was announced by the county council in March that the George Ward School had been chosen to be the recipient of a £20m government grant to rebuild just one school in the county.

Since then discussions between the school and the council on the new school and how it should take shape have been continuing. A council spokesman said: "We are working with the school and are in the early stages of coming up with ideas of what we want and what the school wants. "The consultation will be widened out to include the community in the new term."

Once consultation has taken place the next stage of the project will be to tender for contracts and to apply for planning permission, which is expected to take place at the end of this year at the earliest.