A MUCH maligned school re-build has reached the halfway mark in Wimborne, a year after it was due to open.

Queen Elizabeth’s School, in Blandford Road, held a rooftop topping out ceremony to bless the site, which should be ready for September 2011.

The controversial £50.6million project has been discussed behind closed doors at Dorset County Council in recent months.

Project manager Tony Hall said: “We’re excited, but it’s all still a bit up in the air.

“The concrete and steel frames are up for all but the smallest building and everything should be ready next summer.

“Then it’s just a case of knocking the old school down before term starts.”

Mr Hall said half the £38m contracting budget had been spent so far and electrical workers will start this week.

“We’ve just got to fill in the bits in between,” he said. “In the last 18 months everything’s been organised.”

Headteacher Andy Puttock was excited to show pupils round.

“That was the best thing,” he said. “They could have stayed for hours.

“After some of the ups and downs of the past four years, it’s fantastic to have got here.

“It’s beginning to feel like a school rather than a building site.

“You can never say anything’s unstoppable, but this is beginning to feel like that.”

County, East Dorset District and town councillors attended the ceremony.

Cllr Toni Coombs, the county’s cabinet member for children’s services, said: “It’s wonderful to see it all come into being.

“Some students have been heavily involved since they were in Primary School, and it was great for them to see the fruits of their labours.”