A SCHOOL’S refurbished toilet area, which caused controversy among parents, will be officially opened on Monday.

In November we reported that parents had concerns about the development of an open-plan toilet block at St Julian’s Comprehensive School in Newport which has male and female facilities.

After months of work, the toilets will be officially opened to pupils on Monday morning.

Head teacher Rhys Evans said: “A lot of people have put in a lot of hard work and it’s nice that the students have had such an active part in it.”

Mr Evans added that during the consultation the pupils were made aware of other toilets that are not open-plan which are available to pupils to use.

He added: “Parents can come and make an appointment and we can arrange to bring them to see the toilets should they have any concerns. The feedback we have had from students has been overwhelmingly positive.”

When the plans were unveiled the school’s business manager, Ryan Owen, said that he spoke to a number of parents about the plans, but they have had no calls since they explained the plans on the school’s website.

Mr Owen said that pupils were able to vote on what money was spent on and they chose the open-plan toilets.

Pupil Madison Pugh, 13, said: “One pupil from each form is a representative and we join together as a Pupil Voice group.

“We were given some money and we were deciding what to spend it on and we voted on whether we would decorate the classrooms or have new toilets, and we decided to do that because we wanted a bit of a change.”

Mr Evans added: “They are a big improvement on what we had.

“We have managed to improve it in terms of standards but also we have more capacity so more students can use it.”

Mr Owen said: “It’s been a really successful project and we hope students enjoy using them from Monday.”

The project is one of a series of improvements which are being made to the school which was built in 1941.

The school has plans to improve classrooms, to fit new windows and to address the capacity in the school’s canteens and cafe.