New £10m school on target to open in September

More than 242 photovoltaic panels were installed on the school's completed roof

A new £10m school will open in September after construction works at the site were completed.

A topping out ceremony was held at the new Chapel Hill Primary School and Nursery, in Basildon, Essex, to mark the occasion.

The two-storey building is set to accommodate 476 pupils when it opens and will feature a special educational needs therapy room.

School leader Sue Jackson said it would become a "centre of educational excellence that is the jewel in Basildon's crown".

The facility was being built as a "sister school" to the over-subscribed Lee Chapel Primary.

Ms Jackson said it was on track to open on Monday, 2 September.

Outline permission for the Dry Street housing development was granted by Basildon Council in June 2013

"The topping out ceremony marks the significant progress that has been made in building our new state-of-the-art school," she added.

The school and integrated nursery were part of a planning deal associated with the 725-home Dry Street development, in Nethermayne.

Outline permission was granted by Basildon Council in June 2013 despite 838 objection letters and a 5,000-signature petition.

In October 2014, the Green Action Group took a case to the High Court in a bid to halt the development but saw it thrown out by a judge.

Plans for the school were agreed in May 2023.