A SCHOOL is celebrating after learning it will be moving into a new building.

St Cuthbert's RC Voluntary Aided Primary, in Crook, will get its new home in September next year, exactly 150 years after it was founded on a hillside above the town.

Parents of the 240 pupils have already begun fundraising. The parish must contribute £150,000 towards the £1.3m cost, which is largely met by the Department for Education and Skills.

The school submitted a bid last year after governors ruled that it was uneconomic to spend more money on patching up the present Victorian premises.

Land between St Cuthbert's Church and George Terrace was first earmarked for development 30 years ago.

Headteacher Barbara Simpson said: "We are very excited. It will mean having a school that is fit for education in the twenty-first century instead of a building that it crumbling around us."