RINGWOOD School has officially opened its £1million geography building.

The new building was opened during a ceremony on Wednesday, April 26 by Steve Etches MBE.

Mr Etches, a local celebrity amongst geologists, has amassed a substantial collection of over 2,000 fossil specimens from the Jurassic Coast over the last 30 years. This nationally significant collection, known as The Etches Collection, can be viewed at Kimmeridge Museum.

The building now offers Ringwood School students and staff high specification and modern classrooms. It is the result of Ringwood School’s success in obtaining funding from the Government’s Condition Improvement Fund to replace the 1960’s SCOLA Geography building which had more than surpassed its original 10 year life span.

An improved thermal efficiency was also key in the planning of the new building, to reduce Ringwood School’s energy consumption and carbon footprint.

The project was completed in seven months and was constructed by Modulek LTD. It is the second new building for Ringwood School in the last two and a half years.

The official opening was attended by Mayor of Ringwood, Cllr Tim Ward, Modulek LTD representative Brian Pester, Kevin Jones from Sheerin Bettle Architecture and geography and geology pupils at the school.

Head teacher Leanne Symonds said: “I am absolutely delighted that our new Geography building has been officially opened and that we can now offer Ringwood School students an enhanced learning experience in one of our most popular subject areas. We have now completed the upgrade of our humanities accommodation and look forward to the development of other areas of the school in the future."