Witney's Henry Box School is inviting the public to use its new £200,000 modern languages centre.

The centre is being opened up for primary schools, firms and adult education classes.

Former cabinet minister and ex-Witney MP Lord Hurd of Westwell was due to formally open the facility on December 16.

It contains eight refurbished classrooms, accommodation for staff and sixth-form students, and a language laboratory equipped with a range of computers.

Henry Box has more than 1,300 students and 82 teachers, 10 of whom teach French, German and Spanish at GCSE and A-Level.

Some are involved in outreach work to primary schools.

Headteacher Rod Walker said: "It's a wonderful language laboratory.

"We're now a dedicated school language centre, only the second in Oxfordshire."

The other such centre is at Didcot Girls School.

The refurbishment cost £150,000 - £100,000 coming from a Government grant and the remainder from sponsorship. The school raised an extra £50,000 for the computers.

The school is also the county council's partner in housing the Oxfordshire Comenius Centre, a training and support facility for modern languages in all schools.

The county's executive member for schools, Tony Crabbe, said: "Henry Box School has had a very strong languages department for many years, as demonstrated by recent Ofsted reports."