STRIDES being made at a secondary school have been praised by an MP.

Basingstoke MP Maria Miller paid a visit to Brighton Hill Community School to catch up with headteacher Chris Edwards, and hear from him about latest developments and plans for the school.

The MP heard how the Brighton Way school's pupil numbers are rising year on year, as previously reported by the Gazette, and recent success in winning top prize in the Impact category of the national BETT Awards, recognising the development of the BHCS TeenMind app which encourages young people to look after their mental health and wellbeing.

Maria also met some Year 7 students, who were taking part in a lunchtime session on issues about safeguarding, as part of their regular 'community lunches'.

Maria said: “I was very pleased to visit Brighton Hill Community School again. I was particularly interested to hear how the school is going from strength-to-strength in terms of pupil numbers, with 230 new students due to start in September, and the further strengthening of the foreign languages teaching team from September too.”