A school was today celebrating after smashing through a £50,000 fundraising target to become a specialist science college.

Sweyne Park School, in Rayleigh, now hopes its bid will be accepted by the Government, which would plough thousands into boosting facilities.

Headteacher Kate Spiller said: "It has been incredibly arduous work in achieving this amount, but now we are really over the moon.

"We raised one third from industry, one third from parents and friends of the school and the remainder from our fundraising activities."

Published Tuesday, January 14, 2003

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