A brand new primary school in Smethwick is on track for completion this summer. It will be the first new primary school to open in Sandwell in 40 years.

The school is called Shireland Technology Primary and once complete it will specialise in technology and have a dedicated science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning zone and an immersive room where surround projection fully immerses children into different worlds and times.

The purpose-built school will also have a roof top play area for children. The building has been designed and built to inspire new ways of technology-enabled thinking to provide pupils with real-world learning experiences.

The primary school is currently housed in another building on the Shireland Collegiate Academy high school site but pupils will start the next school year in their new purpose-built building on the same site on Waterloo Road in Smethwick.

The primary school will take on an additional 60 pupils in September and once at full capacity will have 420 pupils in attendance by the year 2025.

The current pupils of Shireland Technology Primary got to have a look at their new school recently when they visited the site after a special assembly in which they learned about building site safety.

The assembly included a visit from the site manager for Speller Metcalfe and Buzz Site Gear, Speller Metcalfe’s safety mascot. The children were then accompanied to the construction site by school principal Lady Kirsty Grundy and Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust chief executive officer Sir Mark Grundy.

The school is on track for completion in August and pupils will be able to start there from September 2020 when the new academic year begins.