CLYRO Primary School pupils saw the end of an era as their old school building was reduced to rubble by a huge crane.

Last week we told the story of how the children had returned from half term to start life in a temporary, purpose-built school on the grounds of Clyro Court, just a short walk up the road from their old school.

Next year the children will be making the return journey, once a brand new school is built on the site of the old one.

Last week 13 pupils from Year 6 and head teacher Sarah Groves got to see the crane in action and Mrs Groves even sat at the crane’s controls to be photographed.

Although the school was reduced to rubble in a matter of minutes, the time taken up by the job was mainly spent sorting out the different materials – wood metal, brick and glass – for recycling and reuse.

Nigel Talbot of contractors Wilmott-Dixon explained to the children that the bricks needed crushing up to form part of the foundations of the new school. The children were issued with hard hats and high-visibility vests and then given a tour of the demolition site. While they were there they saw the old hall and the kitchen of the school being demolished.

Building work will now begin on the site and the new school is scheduled to be ready in June next year.

Meanwhile, the children at Clyro Primary School have begun lessons in their temporary school where four portable classrooms have been installed along with a purpose-built tacmacked surface where they can play during breaktimes and games lessons.

The children also have access to an astroturf pitch and a neighbouring field.

The temporary school is actually more spacious than the building the children have left and the classrooms are fitted with state-of-the-art facilities such as Clevertouch TV – with a huge 72-inch interactive screen which acts like a giant tablet and connects to the internet.

The new school is part of a £23 million investment by the Welsh Government and Powys County Council to build five news schools in the ‘Gwernyfed cluster’.

After the visit, Mrs Groves said: “The children were all very excited to be able to visit the site during the demolition, see the machines in action and were interested to ask questions about how the school gets taken down. It was stunning to see the buildings come down so easily but everyone is so very excited now and waiting to see the new school building go up!”