ONE hundred and fifty students at the Free Hill All-Age School in St Ann are expected to benefit from a more comfortable learning environment when the institution reopens next week, following a $1.5-million renovation.

Principal, Daniel Barrett, told the Jamaica Information Service that the metal work at the school, a Canadian built-type, had deteriorated and the doors and windows “were in a terrible condition”.

The Ministry of Education, Youth and Culture had contracted McKinley Tropical Metal Products to replace all the metal work as well as paint the building.

Barrett said that a modern water catchment had also been installed to take water from the roof to the school tank, ensuring that there will be water, always, at the institution. And in the process of doing the work, a wind-breaker was installed to the northern section of the building, to prevent 80 per cent to 90 per cent of wind from the sea which blows water to the school, damaging the doors and windows.

Senior building officer at the ministry, Preston Sudlow, said the work currently being done would cost $1 million, while electrical work as well as the upgrading of sanitary facilities and security would amount to $500,000.

Sudlow also noted that translucent sheets to provide additional light to the building would be installed indoors, “and when this work is completed by the end of the financial year, the community will see a great improvement at the institution”.