A £450,000 development project due to start today at a school in Barnard Castle will have benefits for both its students and the wider community.

Work will start on two buildings at Teesdale Comprehensive School, a construction workshop and a virtual learning environment in a courtyard, near the drama studio.

The school has developed a partnership with Staindrop Business and Enterprise College and Wolsingham School and will use the virtual learning environment to work together. It will have computers with wireless internet together with a video conferencing facility.

"One of the big benefits is that if some students want to take something like Russian or Spanish, they don't have to be shipped to another school. They can use the video-conferencing to join in lessons from another location," said Colin Cartwright, business manager at Teesdale School.

The school has been piloting a GCSE in construction and will hope to use the new workshop to offer a range of associated qualifications, such as the 14 to 19 diplomas. It is also hoped the school can adapt the building to teach courses such as painting and decorating.

Mr Cartwright said it would also become available to the wider community.

The school raised 25 per cent of the money needed for the projects, but also secured funding from One NorthEast and the County Durham Economic Partnership. It is hoped that both the construction workshop and the virtual learning environment will be finished by January.