A school is celebrating getting a new pool installed after a huge funding grant.

Sutton at Hone primary was given £46,050 from Sport England to refurbish their crumbling 1970s-built pool.

That is half the money they need for the complete update but the school, in Church Road, has already managed to raise more than £20,000 through their own fundraising so are now three quarters of the way there.

Swimming could only take place between March and October because the roof was not substantial enough to keep the worst of the winter cold out.

It was already in a bad state of repair and was coming to the end of its life, but last year – after the pool was drained – parts of it eroded and it is not safe for the children to swim in.

Heather Hughes, the school business manager, said: “It really was a case of ‘make or break’, but we did want to keep it going. Learning to swim is a vital life skill for young people to learn.

"Now we’re able to build a facility which can be used all year round, and which will also be available for the community to use for parties or to and have lessons in." - Heather Hughes

“Now we’re able to build a facility which can be used all year round, and which will also be available for the community to use for parties or to and have lessons in.

“The parents are really on board and all the children are very excited.

“It’s self contained so people don’t need to have access to the school to get in and that means we can let people use it over weekends.

“We’ve already had interest from a few people looking to rent out the space for lessons.”

The size will stay about the same as it is now, 16m by 12m, but Mrs Hughes is hoping to get one end dug a little bit deeper than the current 1m.

There will also be better lighting, plumbing and toilets and showers put in rather than just changing rooms.

The school’s swimming instructor Jenny Christmas has been at the forefront of raising money for a refurbishment since 2011.

In previous interviews she said learning to swim in this area in particularly is important, because of the number of lakes and rivers.

There is enough money to start work once the summer term ends. It is hoped to be finished in time for this September.