WEY Valley School is set for an extension to its canteen thanks to a government grant.

The school has been granted £40,000 to extend their dining area.

Students at both Wey Valley School and St Nicholas and St Laurence Primary School will benefit from the new space from September.

The grant will allow the secondary school to almost double the size of the dining space available to children.

The two schools have been gifted the grant to recognise the support and partnership between the schools to deliver free infant school meals.

Rob Cole, Wey Valley’s finance and business manager, is delighted the school is receiving the grant.

He said: “This is great news for both schools as students have been asking for more seating areas for morning break-time and lunchtime.

“We will be converting an adjacent room to the Diner with the extended dining room able to seat over 250 students in one sitting."

The school already has a local contractor on board and work is expected to begin during the summer holidays.

The funding is part of the government's Condition Improvement Fund which will see £367mil given to 1,366 school projects across the country.

The fund aims to ensure that children can enjoy school and sixth-form college buildings which are safe, good quality and fit for learning.

One of the people who will directly benefit from the extension at Wey Valley, is manager of the diner, Kerri Walker.

She believes the extension is important with more children taking up the opportunity to eat school meals.

She said: “Since the introduction of cashless catering a year ago and new school menus, we have seen a 20% uptake in pupils choosing to eat school meals there.

“With up to 100 pupils from St Nicholas and St Laurence coming over for their hot meals, this additional seating space will be very welcome and much appreciated by all.”

The proposals for the new layout will soon be put to Wey Valley’s student council for their input, ensuring that the main dining rooms and the two other social areas, the gallery and the goldfish bowl, are all furnished to meet student's needs.