A NEW £4.5million school in a Monmouthshire village opened its doors to pupils for the first time yesterday.

Raglan VC Church in Wales Primary School, in Raglan, has been part funded by Welsh Government’s 21st Century schools and education programme and built as part of the county council’s 21st Century School programme.

Head teacher Jeremy Piper said: “The pupils, staff and the whole school community are really looking forward to starting in our new learning environment.

“Through its innovative design, we will be able to develop cross-phase, cross-class and cross-curricular learning opportunities more effectively to meet the needs of all pupils.

"The learning environment is designed to be flexible, allowing us to adapt the learning environment to enable even more innovative and exciting ways of learning to be developed.

“The school is a vibrant, welcoming environment that will clearly motivate staff and pupils to be the best they can be, and an environment of which the whole community can be proud."

“We are committed to our continued partnerships with the local and wider community, and hope that the school will continue to be a place in which groups can come together for the benefit of the community as well as the school.”

Councillor Liz Hacket Pain, cabinet member for education added: “This new state-of-the-art school is designed to get the very best out of our pupils and I’m confident that it will inspire them."

“I’m sure that the whole community looks forward to taking advantage of this wonderful new community facility."