THE new £18m Walthamstow School for Girls building has opened this week.

Council leader Chris Robbins: “The project has taken over a year to complete and, while retaining aspects of the schools original Victorian campus and facade, is the most dramatic and significant school improvement project Waltham Forest Council has delivered through its £300m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme.”

The school is the third in the borough which has been built or improved under the BSF scheme, following the new Frederick Bremer School and the refurbishment of Kelmscott School.

BSF is the government plan to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school in the country.

Most of the projects are funded by the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme which sees schools built by private firms which are then contracted to maintain them for a long period.

Critics of PFI say the scheme is eventually more expensive to the taxpayer as it is financed by loans paid for at commercial rates, which have a higher rate of interest.

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