A "DILAPIDATED" secondary school is to be relocated and rebuilt using new government cash.

Willowfield Humanities College, in Clifton Avenue, Walthamstow, will expand and move to nearby Hawarden Road using £20 million out of the £30 million allocated to the borough for school improvements this year.

Leytonstone School in Colworth Road will receive the remaining £10 million for a "major remodelling", the council has said.

The £30 million funding was announced in April by Whitehall but the council did not reveal at the time how it would spend the cash.

Willowfield headteacher John Hemingway said: "This is a fantastic vote of confidence from the council in the staff and students of Willowfield.

"They recognise that Willowfield already achieves excellent results for its pupils in very difficult circumstances.

"It is also marvellous news for our school community.”

Mr Hemingway added that the project was scheduled to be completed in an estimated 18 months to two years.

It comes as the government announced it would pay to rebuild or remodel a further five schools in Waltham Forest using a separate pot of cash under its new nationwide £2 billion Priority School Building Programme (PSBP).

The sites that will benefit from that money are Buxton School in Leytonstone, George Mitchell School in Leyton, Hawkswood Primary in Chingford, Selwyn Primary School in Highams Park, and St Joseph's Catholic Infant School in Leyton.

Full details and costs are yet to be revealed by the government.

The funding announcements come two years after the government axed the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme, which led to the cancellation of £263 million worth of planned improvement works to 18 schools in the borough.

The council took the government to court over the issue, and had its complaint over a lack of proper consultation partly upheld.

An out-of-court settlement was then reached but both sides agreed to keep the financial deal secret from the public.

Willowfield was one of the schools due to be rebuilt under BSF, with its buildings being described as "dilapidated" by former headteacher Eve Wilson.

Council leader Cllr Chris Robbins said: "The plans we have for Willowfield School and Leytonstone School promise to be first-rate, and hearing that we’ll be able to overhaul five more of our schools is fantastic news.

“We’ve got excellent teachers and young people with the ability to achieve anything they set their minds to, but to help them reach their fullest potential we also need first-class facilities to help their studies - that’s what this has been about all along."

Cllr Clare Coghill, the council's new cabinet head for Children and Young People, added: "We will work with parents, Governors and teachers as well as support staff and people living near to the schools to ensure we deliver the new facilities and rebuilt classrooms efficiently, so that our young people can benefit as soon as possible."

The government estimates Waltham Forest will need around 7,000 extra primary and secondary school places by 2015.

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