An event has been held at Eastern Community Campus to mark completion of the exterior building work on a brand new home for Eastern High school and Cardiff and Vale College.

Staff, Governors and students from the school and college were joined on site by representatives from Cardiff Council and Willmott Dixon, the company building the campus.

Opening in January, the £26m project is being jointly funded by Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government, through the 21^st Century Schools programme.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Leader of Cardiff Council and Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Skills, Cllr Sarah Merry said: "It is fantastic to see this phase of the project being completed. It isn't that long ago that I cut the turf to mark the start of construction, so to see the incredible progress that has been made in a relatively short time is really exciting, and I can't wait to see the new school and college opening.

"Having both Eastern High school and Cardiff and Vale College on the same campus is something we've not done before. By working together in this way we can provide a smooth transition for the students after their GCSEs, opening up excellent opportunities for them to progress to further education and training.

"Through our 21st Century Schools Programme, we are investing over £164m in the city's schools with Welsh Government, creating modern facilities for our children and young people to learn in.

"The new schools we are building across Cardiff can also benefit the wider community. The range of facilities taking shape at Eastern Community Campus, including a floodlit 3G pitch, community spaces and restaurant, is a great example of this being put into practice."

Eastern Community Campus will accommodate up-to 1,200 Eastern High and 320 Cardiff and Vale College students when it opens in the new year. It will include flexible learning spaces that can be configured for a variety of uses, and the very latest in science facilities.

The school will move from its current location, the former Rumney High School site on Newport Road.

Headteacher of Eastern High school, Mr Armando Di-Finizio, said: "Every time I visit the site I'm amazed at how much progress has been made, and we all can't wait to move in after Christmas. I really enjoyed showing some of our students around; they were bowled over by the facilities, such as the modern classrooms, library, dance studio and excellent sports facilities.  

"Even with some of the scaffolding still in place, the amount of natural light inside the building is just fantastic; it'll make it a really enjoyable place to work and socialise in. I'm especially looking forward to showing prospective Year 6 parents around when we hold our open evening at the new campus on the 19th of next month."

A video fly through was released earlier in the project showing how the new campus will look when completed. It is being built on the site of Cardiff and Vale College's demolished Trowbridge campus.

Mike James, Chief Executive of Cardiff and Vale College, said: "It's exciting to see how much progress has been made in this landmark project to bring much wider choice in education and training to young people in East Cardiff.

"When this new school and learning campus opens in the New year it will be an inspirational facility for both young people and the local community. Cardiff and Vale College has a long history of working with the people of East Cardiff and we can't wait to move in to Eastern Community Campus."

Eastern Community Campus is one of seven projects currently underway to build new schools in Cardiff. The others are Cardiff West Community High School, Gabalfa Primary School, Howardian Primary School, Ysgol Glan Ceubal, Ysgol Glan Morfa and Ysgol Hamadryad.

The 21st Century Schools Programme is a collaboration between Welsh Government and local authorities in Wales to create the right schools in the right places.

The main priorities of the investment programme are to:

• Match the supply of with demand for places

• Invest in new schools and refurbish existing schools

• Meet demand for education in both English and Welsh

• Create a nursery provision on primary school sites

Cardiff Council's current 21st Century Schools Programme totals £164m.

[Pic caption (L to R:) CAVC Principal Kay Martin, Deputy Council Leader Cllr Sarah Merry, EHS Headteacher Armando Di-Finizio, Joint-committee Chair David Reeves, CAVC Chief Exec Mike James, Willmott Dixon MD Neal Stephens, Council Leader Cllr Huw Thomas on site with EHS and CAVC students]