MAJOR building work is due to start at a Melksham school next month. The £700,000 project at Bowerhill Primary School will improve and enlarge the hall and create a new information technology area.

William Snow, Wiltshire County Council's cabinet member for education, said: "The county council is committed to improving the condition of Wiltshire's school buildings.

"This major programme of work at Bowerhill School in Melksham forms part of that commitment.

"I am delighted we can work in partnership with the developers to enhance the facilities at the school to the benefit of the pupils and the teachers."

The work is just the start of a major improvement programme with five new permanent classrooms and an art room due to replace mobile classrooms later in the year in a new block next to the existing school building.

The final stage of the work will involve making changes to an existing classroom to create a bigger staff room and improving the toilets, with work due to be completed in March 2005.