ERNULF Academy is getting a £1million facelift.

The St Neots school had been included in the previous government’s Building Schools for the Future programme that was scrapped by Education Secretary Michael Gove in July 2010.

Instead the academy has looked elsewhere for funding and applied for a grant of about £500,000 from the Department for Education Capital Fund just before Christmas to replace the roof of the maths and science blocks and update the doors and windows.

The work began in February and is due to end this week.

Headteacher Scott Preston also made two further bids in January – both worth £250,000 each – to pay for work to the sports hall and the upper school, which is home to the English, modern foreign languages and sixth form departments.

The second phase of work should be completed by the time the students return in September.

Mr Preston said: “We were part of the Building Schools for the Future programme which would have seen part of the school demolished and rebuilt and the rest brought up to date, but that was scrapped.

“The maths and science block is the building you see when you are coming into the school and the work has meant that the block looks new and sparkly, whereas it was drab before.

“The sports hall has a flat roof which will be refurbished. It has lots of leaks. Some of the money will also go on redecorating the hall.

“In the upper school we need to replace the heating system which has a mind of its own, even though it is relatively new. In the winter it can be chilly in there.”

Mr Preston said he planned to submit further funding bids.

“Although our engineering lab is excellent, the rest of the technology department is not at the same standard,” he said. “We want to be able to rip out those labs and start afresh.

“We have been successful in three bids when others haven’t been successful with one, so there will probably come a time when someone will say that Ernulf has had enough money.”

The second phase of work is due to start in June.