Work has started on building a brand new £7½m primary school in Connah’s Quay.
The new school will replace Custom House Lane Junior School and Dee Road Infants School and is due to open in September 2012.
Pupils from the schools performed the official turf cutting ceremony today (Tuesday, 1st February) which was also attended by councillors, officials and representatives of the company building the school Read Construction Holdings Ltd, of Brymbo.
The new single storey school is being built on the existing school playing fields and will accommodate 360 primary and 30 nursery pupils.
There will be 12 classrooms, a nursery, assembly hall, studio, kitchen and community facilities.
Outside there will be landscaped play and recreation areas and two new car parks accessed from Mold Road.
Once the new school is built and occupied, the existing infants and junior schools, which date back to 1908 and 1881 respectively, will be demolished and a new playing field and overspill car park will be created on their sites.
Councillor Nigel Steele-Mortimer, Flintshire County Council’s Executive Member for Lifelong Learning, said:
“The new school will provide modern, first class facilities for delivering the curriculum in the 21st century. I look forward to following the progress of the new development and, of course, to when it opens for the pupils in September 2012.”
Read Construction Holdings Ltd., Managing Director, Richard Heaton, said
“The new school will act as a beacon for Educational excellence both within the local community and Flintshire at large. Read are exceptionally proud to have been awarded this significant contract and we look forward to working with all stakeholders in delivering this prestigious project.”
Education Minister Leighton Andrews said: “It’s great to see the start of construction on this project. This investment is another sign of our ongoing commitment to improving schools in Wales and will provide an environment fit for the 21st century for the pupils of the new primary school.”
