TWO hundred sixth formers returning to school next week can look forward to a transformation in their surroundings.

Ready to receive them at King Charles I High School, Kidderminster, will be their luxurious brand new £500,000 headquarters.

The Woodward Building on the Comberton Road site was half financed by a gift from the school's two endowment funds as the biggest co-operative venture so far. The rest of the money came from Worcestershire County Council.

Completed during the summer term, it provides space for tuition, private study and social activity, which the school hopes will encourage youngsters to stay on for their sixth form studies rather than move to further education colleges.

The building takes its name from the Woodward Foundation set up by the will of a former pupil.

Investment funds in the school's two educational foundations have topped £2 million with help also from the sale for development of land at the former Bewdley Road site.

The formal opening of the new building by Lucille Glencairn-Campbell, a niece of Roy Woodward and a foundation trustee, takes place at 7pm next Friday.