PICTURE GALLERY: Official opening of new £2.5 million school building in Wellingborough

Two years after Redwell Infant School and Redwell Junior School in Wellingborough joined together to become Redwell Primary, people got the chance to see the work which has been carried out to extend the school.

The building work cost Northamptonshire County Council £2.5 million and has increased the school’s capacity from 60 to 90 pupils per year group so it goes from two to three-form entry.

When the school is at full capacity in September 2019, it will have 630 pupils.

Wellingborough mayor Barry Graves and his wife Pauline were invited to cut the ribbon at the official opening on Wednesday.

They were joined by three generations of a family who have special links with the school.

Barbara Clements has just celebrated more than 25 years of service as a lunch supervisor.

Her daughter Jade Irvine, who attended the school with her sister Lyndsey, is a teacher at the school, and Jade’s two children are now pupils there.

Headteacher Anne Ansell thanked Mrs Clements for all her work over the years and presented her with a gift from everyone at the school.

Ahead of the ribbon cutting, Mrs Ansell said: “We have been a primary school for nearly two years now and it has been a long journey.

“We have worked extremely hard to get to this point.”

She thank numerous people for their help with the new building, especially during the construction work, including the county council, staff and pupils, the architects and their neighbours in the Redwell area.

She hoped people would be ‘wowed’ by the new building before asking Cllr Graves to carry out the official opening.

He said: “I am really pleased to be here, I am looking forward to seeing the finished product.”

Cllr Graves was given a tour of the school, both the new and old sections, and met many staff as well as pupils and their parents.

Members of the school’s parent council told him that they thought the new building was ‘big, spacious and had lovely views.’

Not only will the expansion work benefit the pupils, Redwell Primary is the lead school for the 5 Wells Teaching School Alliance and a National Support School so other teachers, governors and schools will use the improved facilities.

The new school hall is also used by several groups in the area, including Gleneagles Church.

The expansion work took a year to complete and was finished last October, but there will be further work in the coming months to improve some of the older elements of the school.

For more information go to www.redwellschools.info.