BRIDESTOWE Primary School celebrated the opening of a brand new classroom last week.

The classroom for Year 5 and 6 pupils replaces a 'temporary' hut classroom and will provide a more comfortable and engaging environment for children and teachers alike. It was opened at a ceremony with guests including the school's new governing body chair, Ian Courtney.

Work on the new classroom began in July when the previous building was demolished, and the rebuild took place in the summer.

The project was managed by Tim Capps of Oxenham Consult, and championed by Devon County councillor Christine Marsh who helped secure the funding for the building.

Headteacher Mike Brady said: 'We now have an excellent new classroom to house our Year 5 and 6 children. The new permanent build replaces the temporary classroom, which was well past its sell by date. We are confident that it will provide an extremely comfortable learning environment for our children. The children love it and staff are very appreciative of such a good resource — freezing winter temperatures were particularly challenging in the old classroom!

'This is a really positive move for our school, building on our excellent academic improvements of recent years. Bridestowe Primary School is 150 years old in 2012 and we have entered into an exciting new period as one of the Dartmoor Federation Schools.'