A £1.2m sports facility has been officially opened at a Lower Gornal school.

Ellowes Hall School and Sports College has unveiled its brand new 45 metre-wide multi-use sports hall and floodlit all-weather five-a-side football pitches, with a VIP champagnereception and balloon launch on Friday.

The Stickley Lane school, which is a specialist sports college, was awarded a government grant to build the sports hall and adjoining pitches to improve their former outdated facilities, which were described as inadequate by Ofsted inspectors.

The new multifunctional 'ball hall', which has been fully supported by Sports England, now houses eight badminton courts, which are also marked out to provide basketball and netball facilities.

Having taken one year to build, the pitches and hall –which will be available to members of the community and nearby primary schools – also includes a foyer, offices, storage and changing rooms.

To mark the opening, a plaque was unveiled by Ian Broadbridge, the department of education’s senior policy advisor for PE and sport and Dudley North MP Ian Austin, before watching pupil demonstrations of the new facilities.

Headteacher, Andy Griffiths, said: “I am thrilled the long wait is over.

“This new Sports Hall means a lot to the students at Ellowes Hall.”