East Point Academy has been successful in a bid to receive funding for the refurbishment of some of its school buildings.

As part of the government's priority school building programme, the Lowestoft school will receive a share of £2billion to rebuild or refurbish crumbling or inadequate buildings.

The school has benefited from the second phase of the five-year programme, in which government has allocated money for investment in buildings at 277 schools across the country.

The first phase of programme was launched in 2011, with the government helping 261 schools in urgent need of repair.

The East Point Academy bid was put forward by its former sponsor, the Academies Enterprise Trust, before the school was taken over by the Inspiration Trust.

A joint statement from both parties said: 'We are delighted for the students and staff at East Point, as the government have confirmed that the academy will receive financial support to improve the learning environment through a new building scheme.

'It is too early at this stage to confirm the extent of the scheme and what its cost will be. This will be a matter for the Inspiration Trust to take up at the next stage of development of the project in the spring.'

Waveney MP Peter Aldous also welcomed the new investment.

'Families in south Lowestoft deserve local schools with facilities that provide the best learning environment,' he said. 'It is great news that it has been possible to fund this boost for East Point Academy and to address pupils' needs.

'Providing young people with the best possible education and the skills that they need in life is of the highest priority and this announcement means that pupils in south Lowestoft will get the investment in their education that they deserve.'

As well as this continued investment to improve school buildings through the priority school building programme, the government has also published details of how over £4billion will be allocated between 2015 and 2018 to schools, local authorities, academy trusts, and voluntary-aided partnerships, to help them improve the condition of schools across the country.

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