SCHOOL pupils young and old helped kickstart work on a new £8.5million school in Waterfoot today.

Ian Law, 80, and Phoebe Mollett, four, cut the first sod at the site in Wolfenden Green during a ground-breaking ceremony.

Headteacher Simon Jones, the deputy mayor Coun Gladys Sandiford, Coun Brian Essex, and Rossendale MP Jake Berry also attended the milestone event.

Mr Jones said: “We have been waiting for this new school for 35 years so it’s great that we can now see the finish line.

“November is the month we have been told it will open and it will be a vast improvement for the children.

“Schools are not about buildings but relationships, however the new facilities will improve the scope for learning.

“It will be a real special place.”

The school, which replaces the current site in Thornfield Avenue, will house 315 pupils and feature an amphitheatre, larger classrooms, an orchard, vast green spaces and an all-weather sports pitch.

Ian Law, who was a pupil at the old school in 1934, said: “It’s great that youngsters from the Valley will be able to benefit from top of the range facilities next term.

“When I had left the primary school to move up to the juniors, we were having air raids and had to hide in the underground cellars.

"It's a different world now for these children because things have changed so much.

“There is such a rich history here in Waterfoot.”

Rossendale MP Jake Berry also attended the ceremony. He said: “The facility will be a fantastic place for children to continue to receive a top quality education here in Waterfoot.”