£12m school cash is chalked up

ALMOST £12 million has been pledged by the Government to improve Cambridgeshire's school buildings.

The county council has been given £11,667,162 to improve and create new schools, just over 13 per cent of the total money allocated to local education authorities in the east of England.

The cash boost was revealed by education secretary Ruth Kelly yesterday (Wednesday, 12 October).

The council will receive £9,494,000 for secondary and primary schools. But the authority will get a further £2,173,162 to spend on The Vine Inter-Church Primary School in Cambourne.

At the moment, the 94-pupil school, which opened last month, is housed in four temporary classrooms while a permanent building is erected at the site in Upper Cambourne.

The school had been due to open next September but the council was forced to bring its plans forward by a year to cope with growing demand for school places in the area. It is expected to cater for 420 children by September 2007.

The money comes from the Targeted Capital Funding programme. Local authorities can spend the cash on new primary and secondary schools, new sports halls, special educational needs provision and extended school facilities.

As reported in the Cambridge Evening News