HAMPSHIRE County Council has welcomed £7.18m of Government funding for Mill Chase Academy’s new 900-place secondary school in Bordon.

Together with investment from the county council and developer contributions, the cash from the Education and Skills Funding Agency will help to cover the new facility’s £29.84m cost.

The new school will be constructed on a new campus in Budds Lane, on land currently owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Councillor Peter Edgar, executive member for education at the county council, said getting local education right had significant implications for broader economic success.

“With funding from the Education and Skills Funding Agency now guaranteed, and for which we are grateful, I am pleased that we can now progress with building the new school, and ensure that secondary-age pupils in the area can continue to be educated locally, in a quality learning environment,” he added.

“A successful school is an essential element of a thriving community, and is a huge factor in economic prosperity. Construction of the new school facility will ensure young people will be able to go to a secondary school near where they live, that offers exceptional educational, recreational and community amenities.

“This is unlikely to have been achieved without the county council’s contribution to the Whitehill & Bordon Partnership and its close working with the academy, and its sponsors, the University of Chichester Academies Trust, and the MoD.”

In November last year, county council leader Roy Perry approved proposals for the council to enter negotiations to acquire the land needed, secure additional funding and dispose of the former school to enable a new academy to be built for 2019. He also gave the go ahead for a £10m investment towards the cost of building. Further contributions have come from the Whitehill & Bordon Regeneration Company, the Homes and Communities Agency, East Hampshire District Council, as well as those from the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

Ofsted recognises Mill Chase as a “good” school with “an ethos of high expectations and aspiration” and “teachers who are passionate about doing the best for their pupils”. The number of applications to the school is currently growing.

Sue Samson, chief executive of the University of Chichester Academy Trust which runs the school, said: “Ofsted recognised the high quality of teaching and leadership in the school.

“The opportunity for this school to move into state-of-the art facilities is also an important part of the regeneration of the Whitehill and Bordon community, and is no more than the pupils and staff in this wonderful school deserve.”

Headteacher Paul Hemmings said: “This will be a great chance for our students to enjoy an exciting new learning environment.

“Ofsted has recognised that students are making increasingly good progress across a wide range of subjects. The new buildings will enable us to provide them with a high-quality learning environment which will further support the high standard of education they enjoy.”

Mr Edgar said these strides forward proved that the council was dedicated to the town’s success.

“Our commitment to the delivery of new school buildings is a further example of the key and active role of the county council in the regeneration of Whitehill and Bordon,” he added. “This commitment includes providing the essential infrastructure needed for the new town.

“We have worked closely, every step of the way, with our partners at the MoD, Homes and Communities Agency, Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership and East Hampshire District Council, and this will continue. The investment in the new facilities for the Mill Chase Academy will reinforce the recent positive judgement by Ofsted, in October 2016, that the school is ‘good in all areas’. The new facilities will be supplemented with extensions to the Bordon Infant and Junior schools and, in the future, the creation of a new primary school as the town’s population grows.

“Hampshire County Council’s significant scale, capacity, experience and expertise to deliver high quality education and infrastructure facilities for Hampshire’s communities, makes us one of the few public bodies able to make projects like this happen.”

In addition, the county council said the wider “Whitehill and Bordon Partnership” had recently facilitated the first phase of the A325 relief road around the town, and was investing in the construction of the second phase - the entire road is due to open in the spring of 2018. This is alongside the Future Skills Centre, which opened this month.

Mill Chase Academy will move from its existing site on the eastern edge of the town, where it is located in buildings which, due to their age, design and layout, are beginning to deteriorate and are set to be demolished.

With planning permission granted in June, construction of the new school buildings will begin in early 2018.

Completion is due in summer 2019 in time for the start of the autumn term.