Redeveloped St Finian's School building officially opened

Special guests, including Thatcham mayor Lee Dillon, Newbury MP Richard Benyon, the chairman of West Berkshire Council, Peter Argyle, and parents were invited to a ceremony last Friday, when the building was blessed by the bishop of Portsmouth Crispian Hollis and tours of the premises were given.
The school was officially opened by Mr Benyon with help from the oldest and youngest pupils at the school in The Ridge, 11-year-old Isabella Hamilton and four-year-old Lucia Murphy.
Headteacher Liz Housden described the past seven years as a remarkable journey and said that so many people had been committed and dedicated to the project.
She said: “It was seven years ago that I discovered that there was an uncertainty about the school.
"I overcame that point and I moved on to embrace the opportunity – I didn’t expect it to take seven years.
“I learnt so much about building from the ground up.
“One of the things we have kept alive is the learning, at no point did the children’s learning become second place.”
She added: “We have a duty as staff, parents and governors, along with the local community, to make the very best of this beautiful school.
“We aspire to great things in this new beautiful building.”
For more on this story, see tomorrow's Thatcham pages in The Newbury Weekly News.