IT was the moment Oxford Academy’s 800 pupils had been waiting for.

As pupils returned from half term, they stepped inside the school’s new state-of-the-art, £33m building for the first time.

And their reaction was a unanimous “Wow!”

During the holiday, furniture and 3,000 boxes of equipment had been moved into the new building, which houses a theatre, rehearsal room, dance studio, gym, sports hall, pottery workshop, music technology suite, leadership centre and Littlemore Library, alongside its classrooms and offices.

With every feature painstakingly designed to the academy’s specifications, it also includes a new sixth-form centre and hot desks for sports officials from the Football Association, England and Wales Cricket Board, Hockey England, and the Rugby Football Union.

Principal Mike Reading said some pupils had shed tears of joy when they saw their new school, and realised how it would help them achieve their dreams.

Many of the facilities will be available for hire by groups in East Oxford, as part of the academy’s pledge to become embedded in the community.

Years Seven, 10 and 11 returned on Thursday. The rest stepped inside the building for the first time yesterday.

Katie Jedynowicz, 15, from Rose Hill, said the school was “bigger, cleaner, brighter and better” than she had imagined.

And Luke Souch, 15, from Cowley, said: “Since it was Peers School, every stage the academy has gone through, it has got better.

“This is the biggest change of all.

“When we all walked in today, we just stopped and said ‘Wow!’ “It is going to be easier to learn and to get more work done. It is just state-of-the-art.”

Enya Christiansen, 11, from Littlemore, said walking into the new school had reminded her of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

She said: “It is amazing, and so big.

“It will make people want to learn more because it is such a nice building.”

Mr Reading said: “The building is not my dream, but the next step towards where we are taking this school.

“My dream is that every child gets the success beyond what they currently have.

“It gives the students the sense of investment to show they are not going to be let down.

“It is a challenge for them, showing it is not good enough to just be ‘satisfactory’.

“Instead, it says that if we are serious about regeneration and that every child matters and is equal in society, then they should have a facility like this to learn in.”

Now the next phase of development is set to begin.

Workmen are already on site demolishing the old Peers School buildings, which will be replaced with new sports facilities, including hockey pitches, tennis courts, and a covered football dome housing an indoor five-side pitch. They are due to be open by September.