ONE of the district’s largest primary schools is now bigger and brighter following a £500,000 building project.
Four classrooms have been extended, new toilet blocks created and the front of the school has been extensively modernised, including work to the staff room, through the seven month refurbishment programme that drew to an end last week.
The work has been welcomed by school principal, Mr. Stephen Moore, who has worked at Academy Primary in Saintfield for 22 years and been principal for the past 16.
He said the school, which caters for 416 children, was “brighter and bigger” as a result of the work.
“It is more welcoming and the appearance is much more modern, particularly at the entrance,” he said.
“The building was previously quite old and dated and now the children have additional space to help them with their learning. It is a more practical space to work in.
“This also gives the children and teachers so much more room to do the new Northern Ireland curriculum in a more meaningful way.
“The rooms are so bright and roomy, you want to be in them.”