CHILDREN in Darwen who have spent the last year making do with mobile cabins are looking forward to the official opening of their brand new school.

Junior pupils at Holy Trinity Primary School, Bank Top, Darwen, were forced out of their old building after a structural survey deemed it unsafe due to the site's gradual movement over a number of years.

Building work on the new £1.5million project started last November after bosses at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, along with governors and staff called for the former building to be demolished as a precautionary measure.

The scheme got the green light after a government grant was secured from the 'New Deal for Schools' initiative at the end of 1999, signalling the go-ahead for building work.

Now, more than 420 youngsters are looking forward to using brand new state-of-the-art facilities when they welcome re-elected Rossendale and Darwen MP, Janet Anderson, who will perform the official opening ceremony on Friday, June 29.

Visitors on opening day will be given a guided tour of the new classrooms, before each youngster launches a balloon with a tag on stating their wishes for the future of the school. Louise Wood, marketing manager at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: "The opening is going to be quite a big event because it's a brand new school.

"Teachers and pupils have had a rough time over the last few years but now they can put that all behind them and this will be a real step forward." Head teacher Keith McDonald said: "It's very exciting for the children to have this fantastic new building. I am really pleased for them.

" It's got a lot of unusual features and it will be something different for them. I am also looking forward to being a bit more organised than I am at the moment

" Everything has been stored in boxes for so long but now I can move everything into a new office."