A CHESTER-le-Street primary school unveiled its new play room this week.

Proving that play areas have moved on from simply a sand pit and a couple of buckets and spades, Cestria Primary's new Sunshine Room includes the latest climbing apparatus, a centipede tunnel and building tables.

Designed to help the physical development of under-fives at the school, the new room was under construction throughout the summer holidays, and was officially opened on the first day of term.

Lorraine Gowland, deputy headteacher at the Church Chare school, said yesterday: "The room is necessary because before we can teach children to read and write, they have to develop their own motor skills.

"We see it as the centre of our early years curriculum."