THE first secondary school to reopen under the Government's school building programme officially launched its new £12.8m building today (Tuesday, June 23).

Bishop of Jarrow, the Right Reverend Mark Bryant, formally opened and dedicated Ian Ramsey Church of England Academy, in Stockton-on-Tees, after its rebuild.

The school was turned into an academy and incorporated into a partnership with Sunderland's Venerable Bede CE Academy last year after a damning Ofsted report placed it in special measures.

The headteacher at the time left and Gill Booth, head of Venerable Bede, took over as head of the partnership, named the Dayspring Trust and part of the Diocese of Durham.

She is now overseeing both schools as executive head and said she was confident that the school was improving after positive visits from inspectors.

A new head of Ian Ramsey, Brian Janes, was appointed at the beginning of term and another Ofsted visit is understood to be due soon.

"The HMI inspector was really, really looking forward to seeing the new building," said Ms Booth. "This new building offers us the chance to work in a stimulating and professional environment that is ideally suited to the needs of all our learners."

The new school building was completed last year, allowing it to move from a split site on to a single site, and is the first new build to open under the Government's "Priority Schools Building Programme".

Bishop Mark said: “I was delighted to be asked to mark the start of this new chapter in the life of one of our Diocesan Secondary Schools. The importance of the work done every day in Church Schools up and down the country where we educate more than one million young people every day can not be overstated, and this is a fantastic new building, providing state of the art facilities and opportunities for young people in Stockton."

Ex-pupil Dave Robson, who is now race engineer for Felipe Massa in the Williams Formula One team, also attended the opening.

Last year's Ofsted report - which branded Ian Ramsey "inadequate" was a shock to parents, teachers and pupils and led to its move away from local authority control to become an academy under the new partnership.