FOUR Oxfordshire schools are to get major revamps after Oxfordshire County Council was awarded £62m of Government cash.

Cheney School and Iffley Mead Special School in Oxford, Larkmead School in Abingdon an Banbury School will all be refurbished or rebuilt under the Building Schools for the Future programme.

All 43 secondary and special schools in the county are set to receive substantial investment over the next 15 to 20 years.

Michael Waine, council cabinet member for schools improvement, said: “This programme aims to transform the learning experience for young people – which will lead to improved achievement, better behaviour and closer links between school and the local community.”

Work on the first school is expected to start in 2013.

Cheney School headteacher Jolie Kirby said she planned to announce the funding to pupils today.

She said: “This will make a tremendous difference to the Cheney School community.

“The impact would be to further raise aspirations of the student body and would enable us to deliver on our promise to be world class.”