PUPILS at a Radcliffe primary school were all smiles as they walked into their fantastic new classroom for the first time.

Gorsefield Primary School has celebrated the completion of the first phase of a substantial rebuilding project — a purpose-built classroom for its reception children.

The new learning environment was officially opened by the Mayor of Bury, Cllr Mike Connolly and Mayor’s consort, Ian Hargreaves, in a special ceremony..

Andrea Martin, the school’s early years lead, said: “I am delighted to announce the development of the early years department at Gorsefield Primary School.

“The building work and official opening demonstrates our commitment to delivering first class early years education and recognises the impact that this can have on the learning and life chances of all our pupils.”

Work on the project, which has moved the reception class next to the nursery, began during the summer holidays at the school in Robertson Street.

She added: “We have talked about this for a long time. I have been here since 2010 and have wanted this to happen since then, but it has probably been a dream for the school for longer than that.

“We have known for a long time that the early years department needed to be together, rather than split between opposite ends of the school, to help us show children’s progression from the ages of three to five. “The pupils absolutely love it.

“The awe and wonder on their face when they walked in was fantastic to see.

“They have watched the building work while it has been going on and they were so excited to finally move into their new classroom.

“The impact on their learning will be massive.

“Every aspect of the room has been really well thought out and the furniture is high quality because we want this to last for a long time.

“It is a facility that families and children in the Radcliffe area will benefit from in years to come.”

The next phase of development will see the outdoor provisions for the early years classes transformed over the coming months.

Mrs Martin said: “The next stage of the project will be redeveloping the outdoor area, which we have now started on. We have purchased our first new bit of equipment this week and we are very excited about what it is going to look like.

“The first stages of that will be coming together in the next few weeks and it should be completed by the end of the school year.”

Other special guests at the opening ceremony included the executive principal Karen Bramwell, governors of the Forward as One Academy Trust and headteachers from the Bolton and Bury area.