COURT Fields Community School, in Wellington, is celebrating after receiving the cash it needs to start building a new sports hall.

Court Fields is the only state-funded secondary school in Somerset without a sports hall and staff and pupils have been campaigning for new facilties for years.

The new hall is expected to cost between £1.2m and £1.5m, and plans are now being drawn up. Work is due to start at the end of the year.

Head teacher Elaine Faull is over the moon and said the whole school was grateful for the huge amount of support they received during the campaign.

She said: "We are absolutely delighted.

After years of struggling we now realise it's going to happen and we're just so grateful to the county council and Andrew Govier and people in the locality who have been pushing forward our cause.

"Whenever the children are interviewed and asked what's the one thing that would make so much impact on their life at school, they always say improved sports facilities."

The new sports centre will include a four-court badminton hall which can also be used by the basketball teams and Mrs Faull hopes PE lessons and the success of the school in after-school sporting events will improve.

She said: "It will mean the children won't get wet and be at risk going to the sports centre, they will have something on site to maximise their PE time and their achievement levels should go up.

"Our school teams can also play at home and we hope we will be able to pursue sports at a greater level."

The sports hall is being built where the tennis courts are now and the courts will be moved elsewhere.

A lot of the money for the centre will come from the sale of sports pitches in Langport as well as cash from the development of Cades Farm and a Government fund for school modernisation.

Pupils currently use Wellington Sports centre, half a mile away, but by 2008 they will be able to enjoy a wide variety of sports in their brand new hall.