HRH The Princess Royal visits King's Gate Primary School in Amesbury

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal paid a special visit to pupils at King's Gate Primary School in Amesbury this week to officially open the new school.

The Princess Royal was greeted by The Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire, Mr William Wyldbore-Smith, before meeting Executive Headteacher Nicola Gilbert and having a tour of the school.

The Princess Royal met pupils from Reception age to Year 4/5 and toured the new classrooms, including watching pupils try out STEM activities in the specially designed Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths Room. Members of the School Council were introduced to The Princess Royal by the Head of School, Mrs Sasha Owen.

Her Royal Highness unveiled the plaque to mark the special occasion, before being presented with a posy by Orlaith (aged 9).

The tour gave The Princess Royal the opportunity to view the facilities including:

• Classrooms equipped with the latest technology
• Pastoral/SEMH (Social, Emotional & Mental Health) provision.
• Environmentally sustainable building

Executive Headteacher Nicola Gilbert said:

The pupils have loved having our Royal visitor today and enjoyed the opportunity to show off our brand new school, which we are all very proud of. This purpose-built learning environment will enable us to deliver high quality, exciting learning in a stimulating and safe way to all our pupils.

Helean Hughes, Director for Education and Skills, said:

I'm sure the pupils will enjoy learning in this bright, beautiful environment. We are fortunate HRH could spend time to look around one of our Wiltshire schools and see the excellent learning taking place.

The two-storey primary school currently has 110 pupils but has been built for a total of 315 pupils. The school is being run by the King Alfred Trust Academy group.