AS Education Secretary and East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds cut the ribbon to unveil the new £500,000 refectory at Eggar’s School, Alton, on Friday, headteacher Patrick Sullivan admitted: “I had a dream...”

And it’s one that has now come true.

Mr Sullivan said school dinners would be a lot a more enjoyable in the large, airy building, with is state-of-the-art kitchen and outdoor seating for summer dining.

The official unveiling was watched by representatives of Hampshire County Council, Alton mayor Derek Gardner and his fellow town councillors, and trustees and governors of Eggar’s School.

Also present were heads of other town schools, local organisations, church youth workers and Nick Pugh of SD Designs, who with photographer Lee Ellis created the activity art wall in the refectory.

As Mr Sullivan welcomed everyone to the Holybourne school, he admitted that his dream had started 15 years earlier when he was deputy head - at lunchtime on one wet, cold January day when he saw 400 to 500 pupils packed into a small hall looking for somewhere to sit down to eat their meal.

“Because mocks were being held in the main school hall where they usually had lunch so it involved a lot of putting chairs out and then moving them, only to be put out again,” he said.

“I felt we could do better and I wrote to the Government about my dream, saying we wanted a new £1.5m, two-storey, glass-fronted refectory, but I knew we wouldn’t get it.”

With the opening of the new building, which can seat 400 students “to enjoy a healthy food diet and also create a happy, smiling catering team”, his dream has now been realised, but not without the help and support of a number of people.

“When we became an academy we signed up to a service level agreement with Hampshire County Council and property services and the service has been excellent. So in particular I want to thank their chief executive, Martin Kent, and his team, including Mark Trudgeon, for their support.

“Also our architect, David Wakelin, who worked relentlessly throughout the project and got us good value for money. He believed we could find a way to make this work and I am very grateful to him.”

He also thanked Martin Shefferd, the county’s strategic development officer for children’s services; the Eggar’s trustees and their chairman Sir James Scott for their financial support; catering company HC3S for their state-of-the-art £80,000 kitchen; the staff and governors at Eggar’s; Janice, his “marvellous” business manger, and the “superb” site team of Dave, Ryan and Colin.

Describing the new refectory building as “brilliant”, Mr Hinds, who recently took part in a lively ‘Eggars Does Question Time with The Student Voice’ joked: “No questions today, I am just pleased to be here on this occasion as this is what it is all about - building schools that allow for inspiration and imagination and with dedicated teachers who help students discover the joy of learning.

“I would like to thank all those who were involved in this project.”

The new refectory has also gone down well with the school’s pupils, who cited extra space, a bright interior and the outside dining area as a big improvement.