A NEW permanent block has been completed at a special school in Benfleet to replace dilapidated temporary classrooms.

After a year of work, very old temporary classrooms at Cedar Hall School, in Hart Road, have been replaced with a brand-new block.

This new block will include teaching classrooms, a library, offices, two changing rooms, areas for speech therapy and counselling.

Essex County Council funded the development to demolish the existing temporary classrooms and to build a permanent building.

Some of the temporary classrooms dated back to the 1970s and needed replacing to help better equip the school into the future.

Nic Maxwell, headteacher at Cedar Hall School, said: “We are delighted with our new two-storey classroom block built by Morgan Sindall and funded by Essex County Council.

“It has taken just over a year to be completed and replaces some very old relocatable ‘temporary classrooms’ that were built in the 1970s.

“Included in the block, alongside teaching classrooms, are a vocational skills classroom for teaching construction, a library, offices and rooms for speech therapy and counselling as well as two changing rooms.

“The ‘Braithwaite Block’, named after our long-standing Chair of Governors, is conveniently located near our outdoor learning facilities, including our chicken enclosure and forest school area and boasts a canopy under which basic motor mechanics can be taught.

“This facility will equip us to offer even wider opportunities to prepare our children and young people for adulthood today and well into the future.”

Cedar Hall is a special school for children and young people with moderate learning difficulties and complex needs.

If the old classrooms weren’t replaced, there was expected to be a loss of 60 places at the school.

When the decision was made by Essex County Council to fund the development, Tony Ball, councillor responsible for education, said the new accommodation is required to replace temporary classrooms which are “no longer fit for purpose”.