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The financial future of a Croydon’s newest academy had received a boost after it was awarded more than £14.5m of funding by the Government.

Funding plans for the Quest Academy, which replaced Selsdon High School last September, were thrown into disarray when the coalition Government announced it was scrapping the previous administration’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

Croydon Central MP Gavin Barwell has been lobbying ever since for more funding for the South Croydon school to improve ageing buildings at the site.

He led a delegation of Croydon Council cabinet members and school principals to see Lord Hill, the Parliamentary Under Secretary for Schools on December 14, and said he was delighted the team’s efforts had paid off.

He said: “Although we have got as much money as we would have liked £14.5 million is a good result at a time when government budgets are extremely tight, and will make a big difference to the environment pupils learn in.

“I am confident that with the leadership now in place, coupled with this investment, the new academy will go from strength to strength.”