Joy for primary school

A VILLAGE primary school has exceeded expectations when it set up a fund raising appeal after its 125th anniversary to build a new classroom.

Parents at Waldringfield, near Woodbridge, set themselves a target of raising £30,000 in 12 months towards the £60,000 required for a new classroom - and raised a total of £39,761.

The county council was willing to pay for a second classroom but it told the school it could not fund both classrooms which were required to replace dilapidated temporary buildings.

The parents spent 14 months on a variety of fund-raising activities and sending out hundreds of letters to both local and national companies.

The children have moved into the new complex which includes a new computer room, new playground and a new entrance to the school for the 93 pupils from Waldringfield, Newbourne, Hemley, Bucklesham and Felixstowe.

The school was founded in 1874 by the great-great grandfather of Waldringfield vicar, the Rev John Waller, and in recent years has achieved notable academic successes with a top placing in the county league tables for SATS tests.

But many children were housed in cramped classrooms in ''Dickensian conditions'', according to appeal co-ordinator Nick Mann.

Mr Mann said: ''The doors and windows did not fit, the classrooms were roasting in the summer and freezing in the winter. There was insufficient storage space, the floors rocked, the ceilings leaked and they were just horrible, basically.''

The school's governors had hoped the county council would pay for all the improvements when planning consent for the temporary classrooms expired.

But funding regulations changed and the school had to start fund raising otherwise the hall would have to be used as a classroom.

Mr Mann added: "We were being fairly ambitious with our target but it seems to have paid off and we have been able to carry out other improvements including buying new play equipment. Now we have a school that is well set up for the next decade.''