Ref. 75805-11A SWINDON school is to get a new dance and drama studio now it has won specialist arts status.

Bradon Forest School will become a Specialist Arts school by September and will receive £129,000 a year for the next four years.

This will be spent on improving arts facilities, recruiting arts staff and working with local primary schools and community groups. Headteacher Len Spiers plans to build a dance, drama and performance space at the school and bring in more dance lessons.

He said: "We thought long and hard about what sort of specialist status we should apply for and about the one that would have the greatest value to the work we do here and with the community and local schools.

"The work we do in the community with the arts has always been well received.

"And we have a programme of plays and performances here from us and from outside groups.

"It's something we have built up over a number of years.

"Now we have specialist status we want to concentrate on dance.

"There will be a focus on different dance genres and multicultural dance." Mr Spiers will also recruit a theatre manager technician. He said: "The theatre manager technician will help to run the drama studio and we will get a lighting van which we will be able to take to local primary schools and community groups.

"The theatre manager will go along and set it up and it will help to make the quality of the performances in the schools and community groups better."

In order for the school to submit its bid for specialist status it first had to raise £50,000 in sponsorship from the private sector.

Mr Spiers said: "It was a long hard slog.

"But the fact that it was so hard makes getting it even sweeter in a sense.

"Everybody is very excited about this.

"We have told the pupils and the parents and they are delighted.

"This is about enhancing learning across the curriculum for every child at the school."