A HEXHAM school began the latest chapter in its history this week with the opening of its new extension.

The £1.1m million extension to Hexham Priory was opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday, October 26.

The extension was funded by Northumberland County Council and built by Kier Construction.

It has provided an extra three classrooms and associated ancillary spaces, which will increase capacity at the school and provide an all-through education to sixth form age.

The school, which has consistently been rated as "Outstanding" by Ofsted, provides educational support to children with severe learning difficulties and complex learning needs.

Speaking at the opening, Coun. Wayne Daley, cabinet member for children's services at Northumberland County Council, said: "I'm very happy, I think it's a shining example of how we can work with the community and parents.

"This forms part of the council’s wider commitment to increasing the amount of places for children needing extra support and we really value the immense amount of work done by our special educational needs schools in supporting our children.

"We have a school here delivering outstanding education, and it does it because of the incredible staff who work here. I want to put that on record."

Although the extension was funded by the council, the school is now run by the Eden Academy Trust. New headteacher Liz Davison took over at the start of the school year, and thinks the extension is a good addition to the school.

She said: "We're really thankful, because it gives us the opportunity to increase the capacity of the school, which is really important because there's a need for additional spaces.

"It's been a busy start to the term, it's been a learning curve but the staff have been brilliant. It's a lovely place to work."

The pupils will move into the new classrooms after the half term break.