Work has just begun on a £7m project that will give more than 400 Croydon pupils a new state of the art primary school.

Contractors have moved into the Duppas Junior site in Goodwin Road to prepare for the school’s amalgamation with nearby Waddon Infants. This will result in the opening of the new Aerodrome Primary School in September, 2010.

The new site will include a children’s centre, on which work will start shortly, as well as a special needs unit.

Croydon Council hopes the vacated infants school site in Purley Way will become part of the extensive regeneration project being proposed for the area which will also take in the Red Gates school site as well as the Propeller pub and the former Waylands Centre.

The council is working at Duppas Juniors during the school holidays in order to minimise disruption to lessons. By early September, new classrooms will be placed on site, ready for the children to move into by late November.

Cabinet member for children, young people and learners, Councillor Tim Pollard, said: “The work that has just begun in the school holiday period will help transform the Duppas site and leave Waddon with a modern learning environment built to the highest possible standards.

“It’s a genuinely exciting and visionary project that will bring extensive benefits to a large number of pupils and their parents. By linking together a series of proposals we can provide better schools, better prospects and a better quality of life in parts of the borough that really need investment.”

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