CHILDREN at St Matthew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School in Ipswich are celebrating the fact that three new classrooms have been officially opened.

By Nick Richards

CHILDREN at St Matthew's Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School in Ipswich are celebrating the fact that three new classrooms have been officially opened.

In a special assembly the Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich the Rt Rev Richard Lewis joined headteacher Clive Minnican in a formal blessing of the new extension at the Portman Road school.

St Matthews has become so popular that it had to build the new classrooms to cope with the rising demand after it won a string of awards.

At the service, Bishop Lewis was greeted with a show of raised hands when he asked the children if they liked the new school.

The junior choir sang Let the Children Sing, a song which Bishop Lewis said would symbolise all the new children who would come to the school in the future and make use of the new classrooms.

Children from year five and six said a prayer for the new building and for the time and money spent on the project, which means the school will eventually be able to take about 50 more youngsters feeding through from the infants upwards.

Before Bishop Lewis officially led the prayer for the new school, the children sang Brick by Brick.

The school is the first primary school in Suffolk to get a Charter Mark and recently St Matthews had also received an Investors in People award, and has been granted Beacon status which recognises excellence.