A NEW £1.7 million home for Andover Education Centre was officially opened on Friday – on the site of the former Shepherds Spring Junior School.

The major investment by Hampshire County Council has provided significantly more space and better facilities compared to when it was based on the old Cricklade College site.

The centre’s primary aim is to assess the needs of students, referred from partnership schools, who have been unable to achieve within a mainstream learning environment.

“We’re delighted with the new site,” said centre manager Lesley Cox.

“With the added facilities and the major extra space it really is going to make a difference to the achievements of the children who come here,” she said.

“We have already been judged by Ofsted in 2007 as providing an outstanding educational provision and we now have an outstanding site.

“This will allow us to further extend the support we offer schools within the Test Valley benefiting all students in the area.”

Hampshire County Cllr David Kirk, executive member for children’s services, is delighted with the result of years of hard work trying to get a better site for the centre.

“The proposal for a new site came about 10 years ago and since then we’ve been working hard to achieve this,” he said. “It gives me great pleasure to open this new facility to enable young people to further their education with the care and supervision they deserve.”