Surrey signs off £15 million investment in schools

An artist’s impression of the new dining facility at De Stafford School. Click image to download

Schools are set to undergo extensive building work after Surrey County Council signed off investment of £15 million to provide more places and new facilities for pupils.

The cash will be invested in new buildings and upgraded facilities at Weydon Academy near Farnham and De Stafford School in Caterham.

Two new teaching blocks will be built as part of plans to create 56 extra places for pupils at Weydon, which will also see facilities for language, science, music and drama studies extended.

De Stafford is in line to get a new dining block and kitchen with scope to expand further to accommodate extra pupils. There will also be a new outdoor play area.

For the full details of the plans, follow this link.

The latest expansions come after last month’s council tax announcement revealed £10m was being invested in raising schools standards while also providing 12,000 additional classroom places.

This month the authority unveiled plans to build two new schools and extend three others to create more than 800 places.

Linda Kemeny, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Schools and Learning, said: “Rising demand for school places means we have to act now to ensure 12,000 more children can learn in Surrey’s schools.

“That’s why we pledged to invest £10m in raising school standards as part of our council tax announcement and are putting an extra £45m into providing pupil places over the next five years.”

Surrey’s Cabinet Member for Assets and Regeneration Programmes Tony Samuels said: “This latest investment will help to ensure all pupils have the facilities they need for the best possible education.”

Around £13m of the investment will go on work at Weydon with the rest earmarked for De Stafford.