Building work has started at a secondary school in Redbridge, which is set to become one of the largest in London with 2,500 pupils once works are complete.

Beal High School, Woodford Bridge Road, held a site meeting on Tuesday to update both the community and pupils on how the £16.9million project, set to open in September next year, is progressing.

The heavily oversubscribed school will house the 840 additional pupils in a new three-storey building and sixth form centre which will include a learning resource centre, assembly and sports halls.

Associate headteacher Steve Baker said: “We want to keep students engaged in the project by asking them to help us design the library and ecology garden for instance.

“Some of our pupils also taking part in work experience with the developers, Morgan Sindall.

“There will be no disruption to lessons while work is going as the site is completely separate to the school.”