A DELEGATION from Jersey arrived at a Teesside school on a fact-finding mission last week.

Members of the Jersey Government visited the new £7.7m Rye Hills School, in Redcar, to see how partnership working has made it a reality.

The party was led by senator Wendy Kinnard, who is chairing a government inquiry into building costs, which are a third higher in the Channel Islands than the UK.

Rye Hills, which will open to 1,150 pupils in September, is being built through the Government's New Deal for Schools, which enabled Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council to form a partnership with Shepherd Construction, Shepherd Electrical Services, PMPS and DKS.

Ground breaking work on the site, adjacent to that of the current Rye Hills School, began last April, with the contractors due to vacate the completed building this month.

Redcar and Cleveland's mayor, Vilma Collins, welcomed the Jersey delegation to the new school for a three-hour tour and discussion.