A quarter of a million pounds worth of computers adorn specially built classrooms and dedicated computer pods at the new Shoreham Academy.

The £32 million project boasts specialised media rooms, a green screen studio, a performance theatre and a 450-seater sports hall.

Staff at the United Learning Trust-sponsored academy say they never believed they would teach in such a state-of-the-art building.

It is a far cry from the facilities they were used to.

According to academy Principal Heidi Brown, children squeezed through narrow corridors in the original Kings Manor Community College that after decades of use was full of leaky roofs and drafty classrooms.

Three years ago school staff and governors sold the idea of converting to an academy to parents on the promise of the new facilities.

Ms Brown said without the conversion they would never have got the new building.

That statement will resonate with council-controlled community schools across Sussex.

This week it emerged that hundreds of schools, many of which are among the most dilapidated in the country, have applied to the Government for money earmarked to fix those in the worst conditions, according to research by the Local Government Association (LGA).

But so far none of the £2 billion Priority Schools Building Programme funding has been allocated, despite an announcement due at the end of last year, it said.

The Department for Education (DfE) said it was assessing and reviewing every application, but did not give a figure for the number of schools that have applied for funding or say when decisions would be made.

Government money

Shoreham Academy was funded by the Government through the Education Funding Agency as part of the Building Schools for the Future Academies Programme.

But David Wootton, regional executive of ULT, said Shoreham could be one of the last community schools to be able to easily get their hands on money for new buildings.

He said: “The days of providing buildings like this for children in community schools appears to have gone with the financial situation that we are in at the moment.”

Union and education leaders are calling on the Government to urgently release funding to help community schools.

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: “It is incredibly difficult for children to concentrate on learning when they are in a school that is leaking, freezing or falling down around them. Of course this government should learn from previous mistakes caused by overhasty decisions in allocating funding for rebuilding, but it is going too far in the opposite direction. Its delays risk damaging thousands of children’s education by condemning them to learn shivering in damp, cramped and unsafe schools. In Ofsted terms this government is heading into special measures.”

Funding for Brighton and Hove’s two academy buildings – the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy and Portslade Aldridge Community Academy – came from the Department for Education.

The Aldridge Foundation also created an endowment for both schools of £100,000, which was set up for community projects associated with each academy.

Ms Brown said since becoming an academy the school has become the “first choice for the local community”, but in the recent past the reputation of the school “was poor”.

First choice

Previously parents would try to send their children to Worthing or Steyning schools.

This year all but two of the year 7 intake had made the academy its first choice.

Mr Wootton said: “It is an absolutely wonderful building.

“Children of Shoreham and Southwick and the communities really deserve something of this quality.

“Given the improvement the academy has made over the past few years and improving examination results we are looking forward to what the future will bring.

“Academies are improving faster than the rate of schools nationally and ULT academies are improving at an even faster rate.

“The building brings a focus point of how we can work together.

“Academies have a lot more freedom and flexibility from other schools.

“We know we are able to do a better job by being more independent.”

Ms Brown said academic improvements at the school are not solely down to becoming an academy.

When she took over nine years ago just 16% of pupils were getting five GCSEs A* to C including English and Maths.

This year she hopes that will have reached 60%.

However, she said “it would have taken much longer” to make the changes without the investment.

Pupils at the school said not only have they been given far superior facilities but that they take more pride in their appearance and their work as the school’s reputation grows.

Head girl Rebecca Disney, 16, said: “The school had a bad reputation. If you said you went to Kings Manor people would say: ‘It’s rough there’.”

Year 10 head boy Ryan Lloyd, 15, said: “The uniform change was the biggest thing for me.

“When we used to just have polo shirts and jumpers it was bit scruffy. Now it is all a bit posh.

“We have got a better reputation. It is a lot better school now.”