The official opening of a new primary school in Stansted took place last week and parents of pupils were invited to join in the celebrations.

Magna Carta Primary Academy welcomed its first reception cohort this September and children will be based at the Peter Kirk Centre in the village for a year while work on the permanent building in St John’s Road is completed.

Parents were given the opportunity to tour the school at the grand opening on Friday, September 30, and photographs of the children’s first few weeks of school were displayed on a big screen.

This was followed by afternoon tea in the hall, including special Magna Carta logo cakes, which were decorated by pupils.

Councillor Ray Gooding, Essex County Council’s cabinet member for education and lifelong learning, cut the ribbon as guest of honour to officially signal the school’s opening.

He said: “I am delighted Magna Carta Primary Academy has now officially opened and really enjoyed the opportunity to visit the school.

“Our refurbishment of the Peter Kirk Centre has enabled the first intake of reception pupils to benefit from a high quality learning environment while works on the permanent new school building are completed.

“I will continue to follow the project closely in the coming months and look forward to the new school site opening in September 2018.

“As a council we are committed to ensuring there are enough school places to meet demand and are planning to spend about £360million over the next three years on creating thousands of new spaces across Essex.”