A NEW term will bring a £25m new building for hundreds of pupils at a top-performing secondary school.

For many years, Durham Johnston School has been split between sites on opposite sides of the city - in Crossgate Moor and Whinney Hill.

But soon the whole school - including nearly 1,500 children - will be brought together in purpose-built facilities, next to the old upper school site at Crossgate Moor.

The last lessons in the old upper school buildings were held before the Easter holidays.

When youngsters in years nine to 11 return for the new term, they will be shown into new facilities, with the school day beginning with an introduction to their new environment.

Classes for youngsters in years seven and eight will continue at Whinney Hill until the end of the academic year, with the school’s younger pupils moving to Crossgate Moor in September.

The shift represents success for generations of parents, staff and governors who had to push for the school to be renovated for many years before the project was signed off by Durham County Council in August 2007.

Durham Johnston has regularly scored among the best state school GCSE results in the country, despite pupils and staff working from often-crumbling facilities.

Building work began in September 2007, with steel structures going up early in 2008. Exterior work was completed later that year.

Once the building is finished, the old Crossgate Moor school will be demolished.

The school is the first in County Durham to benefit from the Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme, which will see every secondary school in the county rebuilt or upgraded, at a combined cost of £400m.

There was some opposition to the siting of the new building, with fears over its appearance and impact on congestion; and the move triggered a long-running argument about what rules should decide which children are given a place at the new school.

But supporters will be hoping these issues do not detract from the opening of the new building, which headteacher Carolyn Roberts has said will begin "a new chapter in the school’s history".