TWO-WAY mirrors, sound-proof walls and new computers sound more like standard issue for a James Bond villain’s lair than the latest teaching aids at a Canvey school.

However, they are all included in ground-breaking new facilities at Cornelius Vermuyden School, which were officially unveiled on Friday.

The school is undergoing a £20million transformation, which will see pupils move out of the secondary’s Seventies classrooms into an entirely new school.

The first phase of the project has now been completed, and a new 600 square metre sports hall, high-tech music rooms, a dance studio and extra classrooms are now open for use.

As befits a pioneering project that has won national design awards, the facilities are a long-way removed from bog-standard comprehensives of the past.

Take the sound-proofed music rooms, which include a recording studio and an outdoor balcony to allow practising musicians to sound-off away from the ears of their classmates.

Cornelius Vermuyden’s head of performing arts Gary Wilson, said he had never seen such a high standard of equipment.

He added: “Usually when they say a building is sound proofed the reality is quite different, but that’s not the case here.

“We’ve had a steel band performing on the balcony while there was an exam going on in the sports hall across the corridor and you couldn’t here a peep.”

The sports hall itself is big enough to accommodate a basketball court, and when the project is finished it will also house an indoor climbing wall.

Environmental sustainability has been a key factor in the design: rainwater harvesting will be used to flush toilets, while the building’s energy and water usage will be monitored by computer.

Perhaps the most pioneering feature is a teacher training room, complete with a large two-way mirror.

This allows management to monitor the performances of their staff without the worry of intruding into lessons.

Headteacher Carol Skewes said: “It’s a great tool for assisting the development of new teachers. I don’t believe there is another school in the county with this facility.

“The pupils are delighted with everything, I’ve noticed they behave more grown-up when they are here and I think they’re very proud of it.”

Head girl Shelby Speed, 15, agreed. She added: “When they were building it we thought it looked a bit like a hospital, but now we’re inside it feels like we’re at a college, not a school.

“It’s definitely much better than our old, stuffy classrooms.”