Bishop of Liverpool Opens Dalton School’s Dream Extension
The Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Reverend James Jones visited Dalton CE Primary School on Wednesday June 18th to formally open the latest new extension. Among the many guests invited to attend this historic event was former pupil and Everton star, Leon Osman who cut the first turf to launch the building work back in January 2007.
The celebrations started with a special service in church, led by the children, to celebrate the life and work of the school. Bishop James gave a brief address and blessing. On returning to the school, the bishop cut a ribbon at the new entrance to mark the official opening. This was the third time that this ribbon had been used for such a ceremony! Refreshments were served and those guests who had not previously seen the new facilities were able to look around.
In 1879, the school moved to its current site from a small school house further down the lane. For well over 100 years, the large classroom with a dividing partition between infants and juniors remained the major building! Although governors and parents had been fundraising and campaigning for indoor toilets for many years, it was not until 1995 that the first new extension was achieved, to the delight of the then, recently appointed headteacher, Gaynor Goodson. Not only were the sheds in the yard replaced by modern toilets, but an additional classroom was built for the infant children. The old office became the caretaker’s cupboard and two new offices were provided for the staff and headteacher. The school was doubled in size!
Land was subsequently acquired for an additional playground and the infant classroom was further extended to give the youngest children extra “active learning” space and their own cloakroom. Bishop James opened this area in 2003, recycling the official ribbon for the first time.
Mrs Goodson’s dreams did not stop there! Refurbishments and upgrades followed but the children still had to do PE on the playground all year round, a classroom was not really satisfactory for Collective Worship and there was no room for parents to join school assemblies. At every opportunity, the school put in applications for funding and permission to build a school hall. Persistence eventually paid off and plans were drawn up for a further extension giving a facility that would not only offer tremendous opportunities for extending opportunities for the school children, but would also be an asset for the use of the local community. In addition to the hall, the project included a school kitchen so that hot school dinners, could be freshly prepared on site for the enjoyment of pupils and staff.
In the few weeks that the extension has been in use, it has already been transformed into a French Chateau by a visiting theatre company; the structural integrity was challenged by a Samba drumming workshop for the children, culminating in an enthusiastic and polished performance for parents; children have enjoyed P.E. using the new large apparatus; the “Dinkies” group for pre-school children has been able to meet more often and enjoys the extra space available; the church held a very successful charity coffee morning and the hall was also transformed into a stylish venue for the wedding reception of one of the teachers following her marriage in the church. Visitors have been very impressed with the airy spaciousness of the hall and the compatibility of the new and original sections of the buildings within its village location.
Over the years, the parents of many “generations” of children attending the school have raised close to a hundred thousand pounds to contribute the proportion of the costs that the school had to find for the various building projects and to equip the hall with exciting new P.E. equipment. For a school with around only 60 pupils, this has been a fantastic achievement. The Governors also wish to acknowledge the part played by Mrs Goodson in driving forward her vision to ensure that the children have the best possible environment for their primary school years
Bishop James said “I am delighted to be able to formally open to new hall here at Dalton CE Primary. The school does excellent work with its young pupils and it is wonderful that they are now able to benefit from these smart new facilities”
Mrs Gaynor Goodson, Headteacher said, “On behalf of everyone at Dalton CE Primary I should like to thank Bishop James for coming to open our new school hall. We’re delighted to have these wonderful new facilities. They are already making a real difference to the quality of the children’s educational experiences.”