WORK on Colchester's newest primary school is progressing ahead of September’s opening.

The first intake of 60 pupils will walk through the doors of the £5million New Braiswick Academy in the new school year.

The school, which will have capacity for 420 pupils, will be headed up by Lorraine Laudrum, head of learning at the White Hall Academy, Clacton.

It will be run by the Learning Pathways Trust, which runs the White Hall Academy and the Lyons Hall academy in Braintree.

For the first few weeks, pupils at New Braiswick Academy will use the early years centre at the site until work on the main school building is completed.

The early years centre will have 56 places.

Essex County Council said it needed to build the school, creating about 52 jobs, tomeet demand for primary school places due to Colchester's booming population.

Funding for the two-storey building, which will have 14 classrooms, came from the Government, which contributed £4.2million, and the county council, which gave £800,000.

Cydonia Hunt, 23, of Bergholt Road, Colchester, said her eldest daughter Scarlett will be one of the first pupils to attend the new school.

She said: “We moved into the area two years ago when it was first being discussed and we had newsletters through the door over that time.

“I have been quietly hoping it did go ahead, knowing I can’t drive.”

The next option for Scarlett would have been to attend Heathlands Primary School in West Bergholt, which unlike the Braiswick school, would not be within walking distance for Mrs Hunt. She applied to the academy separately to the application she made to Essex County Council for preferred schools for Scarlett, so was able to turn Heathlands down.

Mrs Hunt said she is hoping to send her younger daughter, Pixie, two, to the early years centre eventually.