PUPILS have returned to brand new facilities and a bigger school after the summer break.

Youngsters at St Michael’s Primary School in Colchester now have eight more classrooms, a new school hall and a food science room.

The project to extend the school cost millions of pounds and started last November.

It has taken place because Essex County Council needs to make an extra 210 spaces for pupils at the school in Camulodunum Way.

There are currently 240 pupils.

Headteacher Gail Burns said the work finished just days ahead of the start of the new school year.

She added she was “very excited” when she saw the finished project.

She said: “I have seen it grow and grow over the last couple of months but it was so impressive.

“It is very much in keeping with the existing building and sympathetic to what we have here.

“The children and parents are really impressed and the children are calling it their ‘new school’. I think it will attract more to the school.”

A new block includes the eight classes.

Four of these are being used by pupils already.

The hall can be used for dining, sports activities and for assemblies.

Mrs Burns said the school had been “bursting at the seams” and is now so big, there was not enough room for all the pupils to fit into one space together.

The older hall will have the same uses as the new one but will be specifically for the nursery children and school pupils up to Year 2. An extra 30 pupils will join the school in January.

After that, Essex County Council will decide when to open up the school’s remaining places.

In total it now has capacity for 410 children.

Mrs Burns said: “As soon as the local authority asks us to open up school spaces we need to employ suitable teachers and will open up class space as required.”

She added: “I am keen to be able to provide education for children in the community so for me the expansion means we can provide that. We have a very good team here at St Michael’s.

“They have made it seamless.”

The new hall also has a new kitchen next to it.

The new food science room will be used for learning and life skills by pupils including those with special educational needs.

Mrs Burns said the old school building dates to the Seventies and work was the first of this scale in its history.