New hub for the local community
Last week I had the honour of opening the new primary school in Walton.
This will be an exciting time for the local community and for local pupils who are going to benefit from the new state-of-the-art facilities.
The investment in the new school amounts to 3.4 million. The primary school replaces the old infants and junior school allowing children in the village to stay at the same school between the ages of three and 11.
It is always a privilege to take part in an opening of this kind, however, this opening was special in that all the children from the age of four upwards were invited. It was excellent to see the children getting involved in the occasion.
Walton Primary School will not just be a resource for children but for the whole community.
Over the past few years many schools have begun to open up facilities to the local community with sporting activities, evening classes and as meeting space designed for community groups.
In many areas of the constituency, after-school clubs and extended hours have helped local parents get back to work while providing a safe environment in which to leave their children.
The new Walton Primary School will also house an expanded community library – this is excellent news for local residents.
Local people are obviously very excited about this new development and even residents without children currently attending the school have been asking for a look around the new site.
This new development will be a hub for the local community providing for the first time a specialist nursery unit for local children.
The school is designed to the highest ecological specifications so as to have less impact on the environment. Temperatures outside and inside are monitored and temperatures adjusted accordingly.
The new school's heavy structure of steel frame, masonry walls and concrete floor was designed to minimise over-heating in the summer, and the building is heavily insulated in order to conserve heat energy.
I'm excited that these developments are taking place on our doorstep and hope that as many people as possible will be able to use these new facilities.
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Weather for Wakefield
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
