The Queen Elizabeth School in Godmanchester is set to be upgraded thanks to a £50,000 grant.

The money, awarded by funding body WREN, will be used to improve the toilets and toilet lobby, the porch, the entrance hall, the kitchen, the large and small hall.

There will also be a programme of exterior works carried out, including re-proofing and re-pointing, the addition of a ventilation system and upgrade and repair of preliminaries.

Councillor Graham Campbell, of Godmanchester Town Council, believes the facility will make a huge difference to the lives of people living in the area.

He said: “This project will provide a real boost to the people of Godmanchester. It’s fantastic that WREN has awarded us this money and we’re really looking forward to watching this very important, historic building, the Queen Elizabeth School, take shape of over the next four months.”

WREN is a not-for-profit business that awards grants for community, biodiversity and heritage projects from funds donated through the landfill communities fund.

Cheryl Raynor, WREN’s grant manager for Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, said: “We are delighted to be supporting the Queen Elizabeth School community building upgrade project and pleased that our funding is able to help such a fantastic facility.

“WREN is always happy to consider grant applications for projects that make a difference to local communities and we’re really looking forward to seeing this one take shape soon.”

Cllr Campbell hopes the newly-refurbished Queen Elizabeth School will be open and ready to use by January 2018.

According to Godmanchester’s Porch Museum, the Queen Elizabeth School can trace its history back more than 400 years, to the reign of Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I.

The queen issued letters-patent in 1561 granting her name to the school and an inscription under the south porch window - Eliz. Reg Hujus Scholae Fundatrix – still bears testament to the decree.

In June 1946, the National School Survey issued a report which criticised the building’s general state of repair and, in response, the Huntingdonshire Education Authority proposed to move boys over eleven years of age to a new secondary school in Huntingdon and those under eleven were transferred to the existing council school for girls in Godmanchester which became a mixed primary school.

The school vacated the premises at the end of May 1948.