Pupils celebrate milestone on £5.75m work to double size of primary school

Roydon Primary School pupils get their first chance to step on the new sports pitch part of 5.75m work to expand the school. Picture: copyright maximphoto.co.uk (Image: Maxim Photo)

Young pupils helped celebrate the reaching of a milestone in a £5.75m project to nearly double the size of a primary school near Diss.

The whole school took part in celebrations to unveil the new state-of-the-art games area at Roydon Primary School which is see a major expansion in response to increasing demand on the school, due to the growing community in its catchment area.

The school currently caters for 252 pupils, however, once the project is complete it would allow for an intake of 420.

The new all-weather sports pitch is the first milestone of work to expand and modernise Roydon Primary School being undertaken by Morgan Sandall. Picture: copyright maximphoto.co.uk (Image: Maxim Photo)

Youngsters sang songs and listened to a special story before the cutting of a ribbon to mark the official opening of the games area, which has been called The Green.

Pupils and teachers enjoyed a kick-about on the new pitch with 12 footballs donated by construction company Morgan Sindall for the school's PE lessons.

Sarah Bradford, headteacher, said: 'This is a really significant milestone for this project and for the school. After we lost the playground to other parts of the building work we didn't want the children to have playtime indoors for the whole winter.

Roydon Primary School pupils get to enjoy the new sports pitch part of 5.75m work to expand the school. Picture: copyright maximphoto.co.uk (Image: Maxim Photo)

'It's an all weather pitch that will be used for PE and for after school activities too. The children have been really excited to see it taking shape. The area proved to be a lot wetter than expected when the contractors began building it and they just kept digging deeper and deeper which is why we joked to the children that it was going to be a swimming pool.

'It's fantastic to see it finally finished and a step closer to the project being completed.'

Norfolk County Council last year approved the significant expansion of the school that will see the old kitchen replaced and three classrooms making way for eight new ones. The plans also include a main hall, kitchen, offices, toilets and storage.

Headteacher Sarah Bradford oversees the cutting of the ribbon to open Roydon Primary School’s new sports pitch by Morgan Sindall senior site manager Justin Hunt. Picture: copyright maximphoto.co.uk (Image: Maxim Photo)

The project will also replace four 20-year-old mobile classrooms and update the main school building which dates back to 1886.

'It's all progressing and is on schedule for the hand over deadline next April,' said Mrs Bradford. 'The temporary classrooms that were meant to be short-term when they were installed 20 years ago. We will be glad to say goodbye to them.'

Morgan Sindall construction and infrastructure managing director in the East, Saul Humphrey, said: 'We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating the opening of the new games area with this joy-filled event which included song, stories, and of course, a good kick-about on the new MUGA pitch!

Work is underway to almost double the size of Roydon Primary School as part of a 5.75m project due to be completed by next April. Picture: copyright maximphoto.co.uk (Image: Maxim Photo)

'The project team has been privileged to get to know this great school community during our time on site. We're delighted to have reached this key milestone on the project and to be making good progress on the construction of the new school.

'We look forward to delivering an outstanding new school for pupils and teachers at Roydon Primary School and to enjoying more celebrations in the future.'