A SCHOOL’S youngest pupil cut the ribbon on a new £5.5m building at a ceremony attended by a grandfather who was among the first to walk through the doors of its original structure.

Vane Road Primary School, in Newton Aycliffe, was officially opened yesterday by four-year-old Jacob Harriman whose name will appear on a commemorative plaque.

The little one was joined by his mum Nikki O’Kell, staff and three generations of the Slack family.

Gerald Slack, 66, of Aycliffe Village, was one of the first pupils to enter the school’s original and soon-to-be demolished building in 1959.

His grandson Corbyn Slack, aged ten, followed in his footsteps by being the first current pupil to cross the threshold.

Mr Slack, whose son Richard Slack also attended, said: “It’s tremendous to be here. The old school was built with a life of 20 years and here we are nearly 60 years on. I walked through the door on the opening day. I wasn’t the first but I was at the front of the queue.”

Kieran Pavey, headteacher, said: “It’s so amazing to see the school open.

"We’ve been working hard to get this here and I’ve been living with this for five years - badgering people to get us the new school.

“Four years ago we got the grant and since then there’s been a push to get it done.

“The work over the last 12 months, in the last week and the past two days unpacking for staff has been brilliant.

“It will be brilliant to hear children laughing in the school and this will raise everybody’s aspirations.

"We provide really high quality education and were doing so with a poor quality building.

“Now we have really high quality facilities for the future of our children and school.”

Pupils past and present turned out in August for a last look around the old building.