Primary school finally gets its hall – after waiting 140 years
Last updated 05:35, Friday, 03 October 2008
AFTER a wait of nearly 140 years, a primary school will finally open the doors of its main hall next week.
Children at Great Orton Primary School, in Great Orton near Carlisle, have always eaten school dinners, delivered from another school, at their desks.
And to take part in PE lessons, the school’s 30 children walk to the village hall, where headteacher Diane Bates has to climb into a hatch under the stage to retrieve gym equipment.
But next week Penrith and the Border MP David Maclean will cut the ribbon at a new hall for the school, built in 1869.
Mrs Bates said: “It means that now, when we have timetabled two hours of PE, we can do two hours of PE rather than spending 10 minutes walking down and 10 minutes walking back.
“We have got equipment we have never had before – we have never had a climbing frame as the equipment had to be stored under the stage.
“Myself and the other teachers are relieved.”
The school will invite visitors to watch events for the first time at the opening of the new hall next Friday.
The hall is 11m long and nine metres wide, with a kitchen at one end, and will soon allow the school to cook their own meals. However, funding has yet to be found to buy tables for the hall to be used for school dinners.
Mrs Bates said: “At Easter or Christmas, and the leavers’ concert, we have to practice in the classrooms then have one rehearsal at the village hall.
“A big space means we can set up and practice.”
She added: “Come January, we will be serving our own meals.
“We are looking for funding for the tables for the hall.
“Eating in the classroom limits teachers’ access to the room and their lesson preparation.”
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