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WORK is due to start on a £400,000 scheme to build a new drama studio and upgrade computer and science facilities at Samuel Ward Upper School, in Haverhill.
The school gained Technology College status last July and the planned work is part of an upgrade before an official launch later this year.
A planning application has been submitted to St Edmundsbury Borough Council this week for a new drama studio to be built and linked to the existing hall with a new entrance canopy and an infill to the existing covered way.
Headteacher Howard Lay said the building would create a new entrance to the school and also a new area with a sprung floor for when GCSE dance is introduced next year.
Numbers are already rising rapidly at the school, which has 600 pupils, and upgrading of the technology area will include Cadcam facilities, doubling the size of the library so it can be used by the community and upgrading the science area.
Work is due to start in May and should be finished by August. It will be done in phases to minimise disruption, but the hardest job will be moving the books out of the library.
Mr Lay expects numbers to continue rising over the next three to four years.
He said: "Our aim is to have all our students linked to the internet with on-line access 24-hours a day. If they want to get up and write an essay at 2am and finish it at 4am, it can be sent to the school and by ready to be marked by 8am."
"Already, 85 per cent of our students have internet access.
"We don't use chalk at all any more. We have white boards you just touch with your fingers to get internet access. We don't have to sell the idea to the students. The challenge is to train all our staff."
Whilst the announcment was being made, sixth form students at the school got some expert advice at a workshop run by top theatre director Max Stafford-Clark.
A group of 20 students enjoyed the event led by Mr Stafford-Clark, who is considered one of the most innovative and challenging directors in the country and is usually based at the Royal Court Theatre in London.
Mr Stafford-Clark was the man who commissioned and revived the play Our Country's Good, which inspired last year's A-level drama group at Samuel Ward to achieve eight out of nine grade As in performance. The School is currently rehearsing for a production of Wyrd Sisters in March.