Minister for Children and Education Jane Hutt attended the official opening of Foundation Phase-friendly Ysgol Clawdd Offa in Prestatyn, a flagship learning facility in North Wales.

The Welsh Assembly Government's School Buildings Improvement Grant contributed £6.45 million towards the building of the school, which was designed and developed with the latest educational trends in mind, notably the recently launched Foundation Phase curriculum for 3 to 7-year-olds.

The children will benefit from state-of-the-art technologies and facilities, which will enable them to engage thoroughly with the new hands-on curriculum which encourages learning through play, and has recently benefited from a guaranteed additional £64 million in funding.


Ms Hutt said: "The Foundation Phase places great emphasis on children learning by doing. Young children will be given more opportunities to gain first hand experiences through active involvement. They will be given time to develop their speaking and listening skills and to become confident in their reading and writing abilities. The facilities I have seen here at Clawdd Offa will certainly help deliver this."

Councillor Hugh Evans, Leader of Denbighshire County Council, who is also Cabinet Lead Member for Lifelong Learning, said: "Denbighshire's in-house architects have come up with a fantastic design and together with the Assembly funding, we have been able to create a fantastic looking school which will offer first class facilities in the efforts to offer a first class education for the new class of 2008."

(CD/JM)