PUPILS and staff at St George's School, Westhoughton, will have an extra special reason for celebrating their patron saint's day next Tuesday.

For that's the day their school - the newest Church of England Primary School in the town - will be officially opened by the Bishop of Bolton, the Right Rev David Bonser.

And there will be few educational establishments where the pupils take part in gym classes in such awe inspiring surroundings as the new school hall - which boasts beautiful stained glass windows! They are set in a small alcove where an altar has been placed. For the school is also home to the new St George's Church which has its official opening on the same day.

The windows have come from Hart Common Church School which closed before Easter and which the new school replaces.

The old school, built in 1879, had become too small for its growing number of pupils and four years ago the school governors, in partnership with the Diocese of Manchester and Bolton Education Authority, decided to build a new school at The Hoskers.

New houses were springing up over the town and the small Victorian school was unable to provide the space or the facilities needed. Last year the building was so overcrowded that one of the classes was held in part of the hall.

The new school was designed by architects Dane Ashworth Cotton who also worked on the new St Bartholemew's Church. It was due to open in the summer term but builders John Fisk and Son Ltd have completed the contract ahead of schedule.

The building offers facilities that were not available at Hart Common such as the proper sized hall for PE. And next year the school will have its own sports field. There are also large properly equipped classrooms, a new nursery unit with its own play area which opens in September and also modern kitchens and resource areas for learning. Apart from the stained glass windows the war memorial panels have also be re-sited in the main passageway.

Headteacher Mrs Pat Knowles said: "It's massive compared to our old tiny school."

The new school can take up to 240 pupils plus 60 nursery children.

Rev Simon Tatton-Brown, Rector of Westhoughton and ex-officio governor of St George's School, said: "Most important of all, we bring with the children and staff the ethos of our former school, in a tradition for hard work and sound learning."

The new St George's Church, which incorporates Hart Common Church, will be the first in town to unite the traditions of the Church of England, the Methodist Church and United Reformed Church. All three denominations will worship together.

The church will be opened and blessed by the Bishop of Manchester, the chairman of the Methodist District and the Moderator of the North West Province of the United Reformed Church.

The first Sunday service will be on April 28.

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