A NEWLY-BUILT primary school has been given the seal of approval from the Bishop of Durham, the Right Reverend Paul Butler.

Seaton Carew Holy Trinity Primary School was redeveloped thanks to the Government’s flagship £4.4bn Priority School Building Programme (PSBP) after the former building, dating from the 1920s, had deteriorated due to its age.

The new building, which has 210 places for four to 11-year-olds plus 26 full time-equivalent nursery places, has been completely redesigned for modern teaching standards.

It includes specially designed furniture, energy efficient heating and lighting, and separate play areas for the nursery and reception children. The old school’s memorial garden has been retained.

The majority of the funding was from the Government’s Education Funding Agency (EFA), but for the nursery provision £159,000 came from Hartlepool Council and £17,000 from the school and Diocese of Durham.

Its Parent Teacher Association also raised funds for items including new interactive white boards for every classroom and a lot of money has been raised by selling bricks bearing the name of the donor, which form a feature at the school’s main entrance.

Parent Guy Dobson, of local firm Buildroute, gave his time and expertise to install the feature for free and another parent, Mark Booth, ran the Edinburgh Marathon to raise funds to buy a projector and retractable screen for the main hall.

In addition, the Seaton ward councillors – Kelly Atkinson, Tom Hind and Paul Thompson – gave a total of £1,000 from their ward budgets to buy books for the library.

Headteacher Amanda Baines said: “Parts of the old school were built as early as 1925 and were in constant need of repair, so to have a new state-of-the-art school and nursery is wonderful.

“We now have a building which is fit for purpose, reflects our distinct Christian ethos, meets our curriculum needs and creates a welcoming and stimulating learning environment.”

After unveiling the plaque and touring the new building, Bishop Paul said: “It has been a fabulous morning. One of the things which has really impressed me is the way the space has been used, including the size of the classrooms plus the break-out spaces, and the whole place has the feeling of care for the children so that their learning can happen as well as it possibly can. I am hugely impressed and the children are obviously very proud of their new school. They know they have something special for themselves as a place to learn.”