A 120-year era in education came to an end on Friday, when teachers packed up the last books and pens and waved goodbye to a Victorian school house.

The amalgamation of Middlestone Moor Junior School and Spennymoor West Infant School has been on the cards for about two years, but staff walked through the Middlestone school gates for the last time on Friday. Pupils had left the school a week earlier.

A £1.2m building is being constructed on the site of the infant school in Rock Road.

Past and present pupils, staff and governors were invited into the school, where there was an exhibition charting its history, which included old photographs and a mock-up of a Victorian classroom, along with records and log books from the county archive. There was also a presentation for the school's oldest surviving pupils.

Headteacher Bill Hornsby said: "About two years ago there was a fire in the infant school and they found asbestos in the building, so it was a good time to look at amalgamating the two schools and creating one for three to eleven-year-olds.

"It's purpose built. It's a school for the 21st Century, but the one we're in now was built for the 19th Century in 1879.

"The new one will be roomier, lighter and we will have an ICT suite, a room full of computers. It's a very, very exciting time."