URGENT repairs will be carried out at schools in Hertfordshire, thanks to funding of more than £12 million announced by the Government on Tuesday.

This money forms part of £600 million allocated across the country by the Government in its New Deal for Schools programme.

Bovingdon Primary School in St Lawrence Close is one of five schools in south west Hertfordshire which will be receiving a proportion of the funding.

The school's headteacher Mr Martin Mangan was 'delighted' to receive news of the grant, which will mean the removal of the school's mobile nursery classroom and internal expansion of the school.

He said: 'We are delighted with the news, especially as the mobile classroom is right in the middle of the playground.'

He added: 'This news has been a very nice Easter present'.

Other schools to have benefited are, St Clement Danes School in Chenies Road, Chorleywood, which will see the refurbishment of its food and technology facilities, Laurance Haines Primary School in Vicarage Road, Watford, which will have its roof repaired, Westfield Community School in Tolpits Lane, Watford, which will have its boiler replaced and Mount Pleasant Primary School in Mount Pleasant Lane, Bricket Wood, which will have its classroom capacity expanded.

Chairman of Hertfordshire County Council's education committee Keith Emsall said: 'I am delighted so many schools and pupils will profit from this. Many buildings date from the 1940's.'