A SCHOOL is over the moon after revealing it will be building a new multi-million pound arts centre this summer.

Gosfield School has announced it is building a new £1.67million performing arts centre.

The 320-seater theatre will also have classrooms, rehearsal spaces and practice rooms, as well as state-of-the-art sound and lighting in the main performance auditorium.

It is expected that building work will begin this summer.

The centre will be home to the school’s new performing arts academy, which launches on September 1.

The academy will focus on drama, music and dance, and be led by Nick Bell, who trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

The academy will be open to pupils of all abilities and the school says some scholarships are available to more able prospective pupils.

Chairman of governors Peter Sakal said: “We’re very excited about our new theatre and the academy.

“This is the culmination of much hard work by the school over the last four years.

“Despite the pandemic, we remain absolutely focussed on ensuring that all our young people are afforded the best opportunities to enable us to discover and nurture their talents.”

The new academy will be the school’s second in three years.

In 2018, the Gosfield School Cricket Academy was launched and has already won acclaim as an Essex Cricket Inspirational School.

The cricket academy now has 31 scholars but is open to all the school’s pupils.

Mr Sakal added: “It’s vitally important to us that all of our young people have access to our academies.

“The huge success of the cricket academy has not only given us performance teams that are competing with Essex county select teams, but it’s given every pupil of the school the chance to pick up a bat and ball, experience cricket and learn new skills.

“Our performing arts academy will follow the same three tier approach of ‘grow, achieve, inspire’, and will be fully inclusive.”