Students at Dellwood Middle School are at last to see the final phase of their school completed with Government making inroads to get work underway by the end of the year.

Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott revealed to The Royal Gazette that a gymnasium and science block is finally to be added to the property - along with the added bonus of an amphitheatre.

Work on the gym was supposed to have started in the summer of 1999, closely followed by the science labs, but since then the subject has fallen silent with no mention of when the new facilities would become a reality for the 300 plus students.

However, when pushed on the issue last week, Mr. Scott said the contract for the new gym is now out to tender and the process in motion.

He said: "The tendering process for the gym and science block ,and the additional development of an amphitheatre, has begun. I would like to think that we may have started construction by the end of the year.

"I would think that it will be finished in 2002, possibly by the end of that year or maybe even earlier.

"The amphitheatre is an additional commitment, but I can't really speak too much about it at the moment.

"However, I certainly think Dellwood is going to be a handsome plant."

Mr. Scott said he was withholding certain information about the multi-million dollar plans until the new Minister for Education and Development Paula Cox had been briefed.

And he also thanked Dellwood teachers, students and parents for their patience.

He said he realised the project was very late, but said it would be bigger and better than originally planned.

Mr. Scott added: "The school has been very patient and I am very grateful for that. It's behind schedule because the architects changed ownership. The Government then had to start again and make sure it had all the protections in place with the new architectural firm.

"When the new Government came in (in November 98), principal Mrs. Carol Bassett, even then, had undergone the rigours of keeping the school going with all the many changes and building works going on around her.

"I know her nerves have worn a little thin over recent months, and understandably so. It's hard enough running a school without lots of work going on. But I think we can finally say that progress is being made and we can see an end in sight."

The pupils at Dellwood have been without gymnasium and science labs since the property was transformed from a primary to a middle school in September 1997.

Students have had to use the field around the property for physical education, but when it rains, the marshy ground becomes impossible to use for a number of days.

And ordinary classrooms have had to be transformed into labs for science lessons.

General Secretary of the Bermuda Union of Teachers Michael Charles said the tendering process had not come before time.

He said: "This is good news, especially for the children and the PE teachers who have had problems on many occasions using the outside facilities.

"There is a small field, but it is very marshy and when it rains it simply floods. This means that even if the weather is dry, the field is sometimes too wet to use. Then there is the issue of mosquitoes around there, which the school has a problem with."

But Mr. Charles said he wanted to know why it had taken Government so long to get the project underway.

"I suppose Government can find all sorts of reasons why the project has been delayed, but, in the meantime, the children are being short-changed," he added.

"I think Government could have done more to speed the process up. Without a proper gym and science block, they have not received the education they should have."