MP Harriett Baldwin joined VIPs to celebrate the opening of a new million pound extension to Leigh and Bransford Primary School.

The successful primary school, which is rated as one of the best in the country, has added new classrooms, an activity area and new car park to create extra capacity.

And the MP formally opened the new buildings, costing £1.3 million, at a gathering with representatives from the county council including chair Anne Hingley and local councillor Paul Tuthill.

Mrs Baldwin praised head teacher Stuart Bill and his team for the impressive test results which put the school in the top one per cent across the country. The school can now expand and take on extra pupils from the surrounding area.

She said: “The school has a great reputation and offers local children an excellent education. Having seen the new classrooms, I am sure that the school will go from strength to strength as a result of this investment.

“Having chatted to both the head teacher and some of the school’s governors, I was pleased to hear the positive feedback following the new funding announcement which was made earlier this month.

“Our local schools do an amazing job with limited resources and I am confident that schools like Leigh and Bransford Primary School will continue to do an excellent job with the increased funding arrangements.”

Head Stuart Bill said: "We are absolutely delighted with this extension to our thriving school. The rooms are well designed and nicely finished, offering the best possible accommodation for our pupils.

"In addition, there are many energy-saving touches to the school which is in keeping with our ethos and has found strong approval amongst our pupil body. We are also very happy that our outside space has increased in size which will allow us to improve our sports provision."

Cllr Anne Hingley, chairman of Worcestershire County Council, said: "One of our priorities is to make sure that Worcestershire's children get the best possible education, and so we are pleased to have supported the expansion of Leigh and Bransford Primary School. It is vitally important that schools continue to grow with their local communities and have sufficient places to meet the demands of the growing population across the county.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and the new classrooms and accompanying facilities, as well as the new larger playground, look fantastic."

The new block houses three classrooms and a library, and the work also included an extended play area, plus improvements to access and parking at the school.

The decision to extend the school was taken by Worcestershire County Council as a response to the increasing population of Legh Sinton and the area around North Malvern due to the approval of a succession of planning applications for housing in recent years.