Priory School in Bury St Edmunds is included in government's School Rebuilding Programme

A special school in Bury St Edmunds has described it as a 'Christmas miracle' after it was announced it will get a whole new building.

Priory School, in Mount Road, is one of 15 schools in the East of England, and 239 nationally, that will receive funding through the government's ten-year School Rebuilding Programme following the latest announcement.

At Priory School, which is part of SENDAT (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Academies Trust), the plan is to make the entire site fit-for-purpose, which will more than likely be a total rebuild, said trust CEO Lawrence Chapman.

Most of the building is now 50 years old and was built for 80 pupils, but there are now 200.

As it was built on the side of a hill, there are lots of steps throughout the school, which is a barrier for children with mobility issues.

Mr Chapman said: "It really does need a full rebuild to make it accessible and compliant and also to give us the space and the number of extra resources we need in terms of sports halls, science labs, art, DT spaces. All of those – hall, dining room – all of those just need to be so much bigger.

"Toilets are always an issue for us – making sure we have enough toilets.

"So this capital funding will really support huge development for us. It's our Christmas miracle."

In terms of how badly the work is needed, head of school Sharron White said: "It is needed so badly. It means that all of the students will have free access to all areas of the school and we will be able to offer that provision to children we currently have to turn away because of their mobility and the way the building is laid out.

"It just means we will be able to widen our access to those students that really need and deserve the sort of education that we give here."

While there is no figure yet for the amount of funding Priory School will receive for the rebuild, Mr Chapman said it would be a multi-million-pound project.

The government has announced the schools that have gone into the bidding process and now they will be working closely with the government to see what work needs to be done.

Mr Chapman said the consultant who came out on Tuesday said they really didn't want to set a limit, but wanted 'to build what is needed'.

One option was to build on their sports field and knock the current building down and create the sports area once the new build is up, said Mr Chapman.

It is expected that there could be a new building in three to five years, he added.

He said: "We have been trying to do something with the steps and the narrowness of the corridors and things for so long and we have been chipping away at some things, but those things are huge structural things to be able to do and need vast amounts of money to kick-start that and so it [the announcement] is absolutely a Christmas miracle."

Speaking of the far-ranging improvements the building programme could bring, Mr Chapman believes the funding will also include their residential provision, with a hope to move towards single ensuite rooms so they can support many more youngsters.

"It's absolutely life-changing, really," Mr Chapman added.

Mr Chapman said they had been trying for a long time to secure capital funding for Priory to do a massive rebuilding project.

He added that they had won about half-a-million-pounds of capital funding in the summer that they hadn't been able to use yet while waiting for the outcome of the School Rebuilding Programme.

Claire Coutinho MP, Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, visited Priory School yesterday.

She said: "At the Priory they are going to get a whole new school, so it's very exciting and we have been looking around today at some of the things they will be able to do with that."

She added: "I was really excited to see a school that does such excellent work for children with special educational needs."

The announcement of the 239 more schools and sixth forms as part of the programme builds on the 161 that have previously been announced, with construction works now beginning on the most advanced sites.

The new school buildings will be more energy efficient for future winter resilience and net-zero in operation, the government has said.

In addition to the School Rebuilding Programme, the government said it is continuing to invest in the school estate with annual capital funding, with more than £13 billion allocated since 2015 to maintain and improve school facilities across England, including £1.8 billion this financial year.

The minister also highlighted the extra £2 billion funding boost for schools for next year and the year after announced at the Autumn Statement.

She said: "As the Prime Minister has said, and I totally agree with him on this, there is no magic bullet when it comes to social policy, but if you want to really transform people's lives the closest thing we have is education."