York school bosses were celebrating today after receiving more than £150,000 to help reduce class sizes and aid energy efficiency.

And schools in North and East Yorkshire will be able to flush away their outside toilets after scooping more than a £1million.

City of York Council received £116,215 to be spent on classroom adaptation at St Lawrence's CE Primary School, in Heslington Lane, and extra accommodation at Huntington Primary School.

The remaining £41,250 will be match funded by the council to replace boilers at Carr and Copmanthorpe infant and junior schools.

Mike Peters, director of education at the City of York Council, said he was "extremely delighted" with the new funding.

"Over the last two years the council has managed to obtain over £1.3 million for school improvements and security," said Mr Peters.

"We hope that further bids to the Department for Education and Employment will continue to be successful, bringing about greater improvements to our schools."

North Yorkshire County Council's education chiefs were feeling flushed with success after receiving £927,550 in the handout.

More than £300,000 will be used to provide indoor facilities in place of outside toilets.

A further £168,000 will be spent on new heating systems and replacing old boilers to improve energy efficiency.

And the county council's coffers were swollen by another £459,000 to build six new permanent classrooms in a bid to cut class sizes for more than 1,000 five to seven year-olds.

East Riding of Yorkshire Council was awarded more than £50,000 for new indoor toilets and a further £90,000 to help save on energy costs.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said the cash would mean the number of outside toilets at schools in the county would be reduced to "virtually zero".

Today's new money follows on hot on the heels of a £3.5 million handout to restore the region's crumbling schools for the new Millennium.

In April, City of York was awarded £691,000 to replace ageing temporary classrooms at Dringhouses and Woodthorpe primary schools.

See COMMENT A welcome relief

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