A £1.5 million development at South Craven School in Cross Hills is designed to give students the best possible preparation for the world of work.

Staff, pupils and representatives from groups which helped finance the scheme gathered at the building’s official launch.

Work began on the two-storey engineering, training and skills centre last July.

It will accommodate sixth-form students studying engineering, health and social care and business and IT.

Among the facilities available to help pupils get hands-on experience are lathes, pillar drills and a milling machine.

South Craven’s assistant headteacher, Martin Daly, said the building would enable the school to deliver a new diploma in engineering, on offer from October.

“This facility will be used both by us and by other students from neighbouring schools,” he said. “We wanted to provide an industrial workshop-style environment, but we also have provision for high tech engineering.

“It’s important that students find out about the latest innovations, as well as traditional mechanical skills. This is all a result of the successful expansion of our school’s engineering programmes.”

The project has taken five years to plan and implement, with most of the funding coming from the Learning and Skills Council.

Money has also been contributed by the North Yorkshire Learning Partnership and South Craven School itself supplied £250,000. Most of the building work was carried out by Skipton-based civil engineers JN Bentley Ltd.

Mr Daly said some final pieces of equipment still need to be installed.

The centre will be ready to cater for pupils in September.

Among those at the launch were representatives from the Learning and Skills Council, Bradford University, Craven College and school governors.

The school also invited delegates from the Ogden Trust, which funded South Craven’s bid to become a specialist technology and engineering college.