BRADON Forest is one of only two Wiltshire schools to receive dedicated government funding to improve their buildings.

This week the school found out that it was the only one in the Swindon area, and one of only two schools in Wiltshire, that had been successful in their applications to the Government’s Priority School Building Programme Phase 2 (PSB2), which will mean the refurbishment of their food technology and textiles building.

Headteacher Dr Andrew Morrison said: “This is fantastic news for our school and we are so pleased that we have managed to secure the funds to improve the learning environment for our students.

“Following on from the refurbishment of the Main School block last academic year this is the next stage in the development of our site.

“The future is exciting for Bradon Forest, as in addition to these projects we are also looking at how best to use the funds provided by the Ridgeway Farm Development to further improve our school.”

The school submitted a bid in July 2014 to rebuild or refurbish their Food Technology and Textile block. Known as the ‘May’ block, named after a local councillor, it was originally built in the 1960s and as such is one of the older buildings within the school. For both Textiles and Food Technology space and storage were real issues.

Textiles Teacher Miss Daniel said: “We have managed in our existing building and the standard of our students’ work is already high despite their environment.

“In future our students will be able to take pride in their work in a more professional environment that reflects the standards that we aspire too.”