DISADVANTAGED and vulnerable children are to be the main beneficiaries of a £62m cash injection into four Oxfordshire schools.

The county has been awarded the money from the Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme to spend on rebuilding and redeveloping Cheney School and Iffley Mead School in Oxford, Larkmead School in Abingdon, and Banbury School.

Oxfordshire County Council schools improvement cabinet member Michael Waine said: “This really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it is not just about bricks and mortar.

“It’s also about narrowing the gap for our most disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. That is why we are focusing the investment in three of the most deprived areas of the county.”

Banbury School and Cheney School will be 50 to 70 per cent rebuilt, while Larkmead and Iffley Mead will be more than 70 per cent rebuilt.

In all, £56.3m has been allocated for building work, plus £6m for information and communications technology.

The amount each school will receive and what work is carried out will be decided in the coming months, following consultation.

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

The Government has pledged to redevelop all 43 secondary and special schools in the county within the next 20 years.

Cheney headteacher Jolie Kirby said: “This money really will make a difference to the school environment and we will be able to put additional resources into making learning exciting.

“We particularly want to focus on making sure students have a big voice on this.

“It will raise aspirations.”

She said the English, maths and drama departments were housed in old buildings, which could be replaced under the scheme.

Larkmead headteacher Chris Harris said the investment and improvements to his school would reach further than the impact of new buildings.

He said: “The buildings and money for buildings will be great, but the key thing is working out the kind of school we want to have.

“The school is already transforming. What this means is we can continue to develop the school with the prospect of being able to do a really first-class job.”

Iffley Mead is the only special school in the county to receive cash in the first phase of funding.

Deputy headteacher Stephen Passey said: “We are over the moon about it.

“We see it as an extraordinary opportunity.

“Transforming the accommodation will allow us to provide an even more dynamic curriculum and deal with our pupils very individual needs.”

Banbury School principal Dr Fiona Hammans said two major teaching blocks were built in the 1950s and only expected to last 40 years.

She said: “The county council gave us £6m a few years ago and that money had a fantastic impact on the youngsters, their whole sense of their own worth changed dramatically.

“A larger sum of money will completely transform this site.”

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