A high school has unveiled two new classrooms worth £314,000, complete with “giant iPad” touchscreen boards.

Hedingham School and Sixth Form opened the new block on September 1, which replaced outdoor demountables in time for the autumn term.

The school set aside £50,000 for the project and won £264,000 of extra funding from the Department of Education to complete the project, which was approved by Braintree Council in March.

Plans for an additional £300,000 extension to the sixth form are still in the pipeline, after this year’s bid for funding due to student numbers being marginally too low.

Helena Carter, who looks after the school’s finances and premises, said the new building has already had a big impact on teaching the maths and English classes that use it.

She said: “We are all delighted to get some really up to date technology.

“It’s a bit of a showcase for teaching and learning now, and both students and staff are thrilled with it.

“We missed out very slightly for the sixth form expansion - we put the bid in based on predicted numbers.

“We will definitely submit this again in January as we have seen an increase in Sixth Form numbers to just under 200 students.”

For the full story, see this week's Halstead Gazette.