Students of Garston Manor School in Watford have joined Wates Construction on site of their brand new £4.7m school building on Horseshoe Lane.

Joining the contractor for a tour of the building works, the students were shown plans for the new secondary SEN facility, which will provide 124 places for students aged 11 to 16 years with moderate learning difficulties.

The visit comes three months after construction commenced on the new facility, which is being built on the existing school site. Upon completion, the original school will be demolished to make way for landscaped areas, including hard and soft play areas.

Features of the new building are set to comprise flexible teaching spaces, food technology, art, drama and science areas, specialist sensory rooms and pastoral care units.

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The project forms part of the Department for Education's £33m East of England Priority Schools Building Programme (PSBP), which will see Wates rebuild six schools across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Kent, totalling 1,500 pupil places.

Peter Whitmore, Business Unit Director, Northern Home Counties and East, commented: "Work on the new building for Garston Manor School is progressing well and we are delighted to welcome the students to site, giving them the opportunity to get a feel for this fantastic new facility as it starts to take shape. We have and will continue to work closely with staff, students and parents to ensure that our building works alongside the existing school cause minimal disruption."

Throughout the works, Wates has also committed to providing work experience opportunities for the students to give them an insight into careers in construction.

Julie Lowman, Headteacher at Garston Manor, said: "Wates have been fantastic. They have come into our school and taken assemblies and introduced themselves to the students. There have been visits to the site with teachers and students and very little disturbance to the school, which is very important for our students. The build is progressing well and the students were very excited by the opportunity to be part of the building process at Garston Manor School and the impact it has for its current and future students."

(CD)