IT COST £45million to build and was designed as a unique educational experiment, offering the best facilities and most stimulating environment for pupils to learn in.

One term on, pupils and teachers at the trailblazing Basildon Lower Academy are settling in to life at their revamped school.

Everything from classrooms and timetables, to uniforms and school sports, have been transformed at the former Barstable School, in Pitsea, since it reopened as one half of the Basildon Academies, in September.

The school’s 450 year seven, eight, and nine pupils faced some serious changes when they turned up for the first day of term, but staff and youngsters enjoy their plush new facilities.

One of the most exciting changes, and one which the school says is showing immediate results, is a new approach to sport.

A new head of sport has been recruited, Neil Moir, whose mission is to get more youngsters active.

One of his techniques was to introduce extraordinary new equipment such as modern exercise bikes and climbing apparatus.

On the bikes, pupils pedal away while watching a screen at the front of the room, which visually transports them through London, or allows them to compete in a virtual Tour de France.

Mr Moir said students loved the bikes and the freedom climber, a rotating rock-climbing wall, which tests agility.

They also have a reaction wall, which gauges co-ordination by getting the user to press parts of the structure as quickly as possible as they light up.

As a result, school sport has never been so much fun.

Mr Moir said: “Not every child wants to play netball or rugby, so we have to look beyond that to get them involved in sport.

“Generally, the pupils avoid getting involved because they lack confidence.

“This equipment develops movement patterns, gets the kids more co-ordinated and gets them using more sides of their bodies.

“Most importantly, it’s fun. The youngsters are wanting to come and try it out and they’re talking about it in class.

“You can transform kids within a matter of weeks, then you can get them out on the courts.”

The new classes come with a new name, Pals, which stands for Performance Activity and Lifetsyle.

This reflects the change in emphasis from exclusively team sports, to promoting a healthier lifestyle and fitness.

Mr Moir said most pupils do three hours or more a week – two hours in class and one hour after school.

This dynamic approach to sport is mirrored by a new way of grouping students in school.

The college system is a core feature, which Zoe King, the lower academy’s new principal said plays a fundamental part in helping year seven students settle in to their school life.

Pupils are split into three colleges – blue, green, and orange – giving them individual identity.

Miss King, who was vice-principal at Boswells School, in Chelmsford before taking up her new post, said: “The concepts here are very different and exciting.

“With the college structure, the changes have made an immediate difference to the children. Rather than going into secondary school and being one child out of 1,000, the pupils are one of a much smaller number, which makes it all more personal.

“They also don’t have the daunting process of finding their way around a big building because their lessons are all in their learning zone.

“It makes the process of making friends much smoother, so they can start quickly and get themselves settled.”

Pupil Megan Johnson, 12, of Fleet Road, Basildon, who started at Basildon Lower Academy this year, is a fan of the college system.

The youngster, who went to Ryedene Primary School, in Clover Way, Vange, said: “I’m in Blue zone and I like it.

“Because you’re not in such a big group, you spend more time with your year and you get to know them better.”

Pupils’ timetables have also been rejigged and lessons now start at 8.30am and finish at 3pm, while on Fridays school finishes at 1.30pm, so the staff can have training sessions.

The time lost on Friday is made up by cutting short pupils’ lunch break, they only get half-an-hour at lunch and the same at mid-morning.

Here, however, Miss King admitted some tweaking was needed.

She said: “When we first started the timetable, it wasn’t running smoothly, so we changed it.

“At first, we had some 30 minute lessons, but we rewrote the timetable at half-term, so now lessons are either one hour, or an hour-and-a-half.”

The uniform has also changed. Pupils wear tailored black jackets, emblazoned with the gold school badge, featuring a coat of arms with two lions and a scroll.

The boys wear ties, which Ross Bliss, 11, of Burnt Mills Road, said he approved of.

He said: “I really like the uniform, especially the clip-on tie. I feel smart in it.”

The restaurant, with its colourful tables and chairs and modern coffee bar, is another academy innovation which Miss King is especially proud of.

She said: “It’s an adult environment. The children respect it and feel grown up in it.”

Miss King described the cooking as using “health by stealth” methods. This includes putting beetroot into the chocolate brownies and grated vegetables into the pizza dough, so the children get one of their five-a-day without knowing it.

Pupils aren’t allowed to leave to get lunch, so most eat in the canteen and they can buy a main meal and a pudding, or a main meal and a drink, for £2. Chips are only on the menu once a week, to go with fish on a Friday, and soup, pasta, pizza and paninis are always on offer to satisfy even the pickiest eater.

All the food is paid for using swipe cards, which the principal said was a good way of stopping kids who get free meals being noticed and picked on.

But it’s not just the children adjusting to new rules, teachers are also facing some changes.

The staff room has been banished and teachers are now encouraged to work in the canteen, or college.

The school hierarchy has also changed dramatically.

There are two principals, one for the lower academy and one for the upper academy, in Wickford Avenue, Pitsea.

Alan Roach, the former head of Barstable and Chalvedon, is now executive principal to both the academies.

Miss King said the changes were part of what attracted her to the job.

She said: “Being a headteacher in the conventional sense can make you isolated.

“Having the executive principal close by provides the opportunity to keep ideas fresh and alive, rather than letting the system stagnate.

“Here I’ve got the opportunity to be very creative and keep abreast of changes in education.”