A NEW primary school in Basingstoke is on target to open this summer.

Hampshire County Council gave the green light to plans for a new £6.6 million primary school in Rooksdown last April.

When completed, the Castle Hill Primary School Rooksdown campus will provide 210 school places for children.

Basingstoke MP Maria Miller, Hampshire County Councillor for Basingstoke North West, Councillor Stephen Reid and the county council’s executive member for education, Cllr Peter Edgar, toured the site to see how construction on the building was coming along.

In addition, John Martin, headteacher of the top-performing Castle Hill Junior School, in Winklebury, who will also run the Rooksdown campus, was given a tour.

He said: “It is very exciting. Every week there is a change and everybody is extremely positive about it. It complements the excellent community centre, it is right in the heart of the Rooksdown community and we are looking forward to working closely in partnership.”

The new one-form entry school will include seven classrooms, a Learning Resource Centre (LRC), main hall, toilets and a reception area, and will take on a class of 30 pupils in September.

Cllr Reid said: “There is a real community spirit building here in Rooksdown and having its own school is going to be a huge asset.

“It is coming together extremely well and I am amazed at how quickly it has gone up so I am confident we will be finished by September.”

Basingstoke MP Maria Miller added: “We are providing more than 600 new school places in Basingstoke in the coming years and the Rooksdown school is an important part of that.

“This is the first new school in Basingstoke for more than 20 years. It is unbelievable how quickly it has gone up because the county council did the preparatory work in the good weather and now really it is putting the pieces together.”