LUCKY pupils in two primary schools in Swindon celebrated as they opened new buildings on their sites yesterday.

St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, in Rodbourne Cheney, had their new building officially opened by the Bishop of Clifton, Declan Lang, exactly 53 years since the initial foundation stone of the original building was laid.

The new building contains five new classrooms and was funded thanks to a grant from the Academies Capital Fund.

The date was specially chosen by the school since it marks the anniversary when the first stone for the first building was laid in 1961.

Headteacher at St Mary’s, Clare-Marie Burchall, said: “This is a great day for our school.

“To have Bishop Declan come to officially open and bless this building means a great deal to the whole school community.

“After the ribbon was cut, Bishop Declan celebrated Mass for us in our school hall alongside our parish priest, Fr Michael McAndrew, and the parish priest of Holy Family, Fr Gary Brassington.”

Meanwhile at Wroughton Junior School pupils were celebrating the opening of the new Willow Side Family Centre which will help develop ties and partnerships between the school and the community.

Sue Cox, headteacher at Wroughton Junior School, said: “Here at Wroughton Junior School we have got a commitment to trying to support the community by working with families in the community. Like most schools there’s no place in the school.

“We had an old caretaker’s bungalow and about three years ago we decided that we really needed to do something about it and use it.

“We had a lot of help from the Halifax and also from volunteers in the community to help restore the bungalow and make it into the family centre. Penny Glover and Lynne Garroway have also been a huge help in getting the project together.

“We hold activities there like the Breakfast Club and we also hope to open it up to the community and make it a sustainable resource.”

The school held a competition among its pupils to decide a name for the new family centre, at it was Ben Evans, in Year 4, who won the naming competition.

Sue said: “We held a competition and all the pupil’s entered.”