AN outpouring of joy and relief greeted the opening of a new multi-million pound primary school.

Bentham Community Primary School has been in the pipeline for nearly 12 years but on Friday it finally became a reality.

North Yorkshire County Council gave £5million of funding towards the design and build of the new school, which currently houses 150 pupils but has room for 30 more.

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Both the former High Bentham and Low Bentham primary schools closed as they were in a poor condition. But the new school on its Low Bentham Road site unifies both communities under one, modern roof.

The new building includes a new early learning space, a well-stocked library and a big hall for lunch time, PE lessons and assemblies. It also has a computer room and two spare classrooms along with a community room that can be used for Breakfast Club or even a mum and toddler group.

Head teacher Catherine Boocock said there were now plans to create a football pitch and introduce a climbing wall.

"We've had a very positive reaction from the parents who are delighted that we are in the new school at last," said Mrs Boocock. "It works for both communities and it's a lovely learning environment. It's so different from what they've had before."

The building was designed by Kevin Bayliss, of Jacobs, a North Yorkshire-based construction company, who said: "It's really good to see everyone in here and to see how the pupils are enjoying the school. It maximises the light into the building and gives them new play areas. It also complements the area well."

Both the head boy, Travis Taylor, and head girl, Evie Slinger, are delighted with their new school.

"It's really modern and it's great," said Evie. "The fact it's modern is the best thing - it's much better than the old one."

Travis added: "There's a lot more group rooms and the teachers much prefer the extra storage space."

More than 100 people attended the grand opening ceremony and among them was governor Margaret Longshaw who has lived in Bentham for 15 years.

Margaret Longshaw has lived in Bentham for 15 years and is a governor at the school.

"It's fantastic. So much time was spent planning it we got to the stage where we thought it would never happen!" she said. "It's been worth the wait. The corridors are the best thing for me as they're decorated in all the colours of the rainbow and the early years space is out of this world. There's nothing that's not right."