A headteacher believes the £18.2 million rebuild of Highfield School will provide students with a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity to learn in a state-of-the-art facility.

To celebrate the start of building work, students and staff from the school were joined by council dignitaries, representatives from the Education Funding Agency representatives and contractor, Kier Eastern, for a turf cutting ceremony last week.

The work – which is due to finish in spring of 2017 – will see most of the existing buildings demolished to make way for modern classrooms, art rooms, laboratories, a music practice space, a library, dining areas and kitchens.

Highfield is one of 15 schools across the east of England to be rebuilt under the £4.4 billion Priority School Building Programme, which will address the needs of 537 schools in the worst condition.

Highfield headteacher Ian Morris said: “I am delighted that work has finally started on the new school build.

“This is a fantastic development for the current and future students of the school and a once in a lifetime opportunity for Letchworth.”

Kier Eastern senior project manager Ian Powell said: “We are really looking forward to starting work on these much-needed new, modern facilities for Highfield School.

“We will liaise closely with staff at the school throughout the build.

“The pupils will be in a unique position as they will be able to watch their new school develop around them from the ground up, and we hope to engage with as many as possible during the construction programme to show them exactly what is involved in building a large-scale project of this nature.”

The original school site will be turned into communal areas such as gardens, fields and a sports facility.

The development will include a hard and soft surface play area, car park and multi-use games area.