PUPILS and staff started the new term this week in a school that has benefited from improvements worth more than £200,000.

The Government cash was spent at Heighington CE Primary School, near Darlington, on three main projects.

During the past year, work has been carried out on an extension to the school hall, rewiring and a new classroom.

The hall, which cost £84,000, will be used by the school's 215 pupils for assemblies, meals and performing arts.

The old hall was too small to cope with the number of children at the school.

Rewiring throughout the school cost £55,000 and the new classroom cost £80,000.

The work will be completed by March.

The three projects were carried out simultaneously to ensure there was minimum disruption to the school.

Speaking about the improvements, Eleanor Lister, cabinet member for education at Darlington Borough Council, said that since 1997 the council had invested £14m in building schools and classrooms, and carrying out improvements.

Other work carried out by the council in recent months at schools across the borough include the installation of 14 boilers, roof repairs to 18 schools and rewiring 13 schools.

Money has also been spent increasing security at schools, including erecting fences and installing security cameras, cutting vandalism by about 37 per cent.