WORK is due to start on £170,000 of improvements to Beaminster School’s dining and outdoor areas.

The dining room is being extended because of increasing pupil numbers but improvements are also being made outside to improve access and provide outdoor teaching and recreation areas.

Builders from Stepnell Ltd will be starting at the school on Monday, June 27 and work through the summer to finish the work on August 31 before the start of term.

Headteacher Mike Best said: “Students and staff are really looking forward to the changes taking place. “The dining room will become a larger and brighter space with increased capacity. “A new lobby area will stop the wind whistling through when students enter the room and canopies outside will provide further cover and additional teaching areas.

“We are also taking this opportunity to landscape the area near the dining room and provide an attractive environment for students and visitors.”

The works are part of Dorset County Council’s schools access programme, which aims to keep all schools in line with Disability Discrimination Act legislation, and improve access for parents, staff or visitors.

Construction vehicles will enter the campus from Fleet Street.

They will mainly be transit vans and they will park near the lower staff parking area.

During the holidays they will park in the staff car park.

Three larger vehicles will need to deliver the beam-and-block flooring, external stone and steel frame.

Dorset County Councillor for Beaminster Rebecca Knox said: “Beaminster School won the honour of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust award for High Achievement at GCSE in 2010.

“It is great that more children will benefit from the school’s excellent standards with the expansion of the facilities. “The design looks fantastic, and I hope that the construction will cause minimal disruption for residents in the vicinity.”