Maldon Court Preparatory School is midway through building a £900,000 new school hall that will double the space the school has to use.

Loraine Guest, 60, the head teacher, who is retiring at the end of this year, said: "We and the pupils are very excited about this building, the school hall hasn't been updated since 1969, it needs to be brought back in line with the rest of the school.

"It also means we can start a nursery for one to three year olds on the site."

The pupils have formed a 'new school hall committee' which inspects the progress regularly and writes reports for the monthly school newsletter.

The project is due for completion at the end of June 2014 and a grand opening is being planned to celebrate, to which former pupils and staff will be invited.