A SECONDARY school is celebrating after being awarded two grants, worth £90,000, towards their expansion work.

Ryedale School in Nawton announced last week that the Wolfson Foundation has awarded them £50,000 towards the refurbishment of their new science laboratory.

The refurbishment forms part of a new £1.7m build programme, with the laboratory replacing a history and English room, which will be relocated to a new extension.

The new extension will see nine new classrooms added, which will allow the school to increase its capacity from 600 to 700 students, enabling each year group to admit 140 students.

Mark McCandless, head teacher at the school, said: “The level of grant support from the Wolfson Foundation exceeded our wildest hopes – we’re all thrilled.

“To be a candidate for funding we had to be rated by Ofsted as outstanding. However, there’s always room for improvement.

“With the help of this grant and our new building we’ll continue in our ambition to provide the best learning environment for all our pupils.”

The school also announced that it has been granted a further £40,000 by the Garfield Weston Foundation for the same project.

The Garfield Weston Foundation is a family-founded grant-making trust established in 1958.

A spokesman for the school’s Friends of Ryedale School group, formerly the PTA, said: “We are extremely grateful to both foundations for their support – this virtually covers the cost of the laboratory refurbishment building work.”

In addition to the costs of the capital work, the Friends are also raising funds for science equipment to go in the lab.

Pupils at the school did their annual sponsored walk on Friday which raised about £7,000, and staff have announced they will undertake an ultra marathon in mid-October.

A section of the school website has also been set up wherein individuals and local businesses can sponsor items such as bunsen burners, measuring cylinders, safety specs, chairs and tables.

This initiative provoked some local concern about school funding, but a spokesperson for North Yorkshire County Council said: “The funding of the school’s building work is not dependant on donations and the project will be paid for from the school’s general funding and other grants.

“We understand the school is hoping to raise a modest amount in donations, which will help to enhance the new facilities, but these are very much a top-up and the work is not reliant on them.”