New pictures have revealed how High Wycombe’s first primary school to be built in 50 years will look when it opens next year.

Building work started last week on the £6.8 million Abbey View Primary School, in Kennedy Avenue, which will throw open its doors to new pupils in September 2019.

The school is being built as part of the new Pine Trees housing development on Daws Hill Lane and will be part of a multi-academy trust (MAT) along with Chepping View Primary Academy.

Madasar Mirza, who is currently assistant vice-principal at Chepping View, will take on the head teacher role at the new school – and said she is “excited” about the future.

Having spent months choosing a colour scheme for the school and deciding on what colour the uniforms should be, Ms Mirza, who grew up and was educated in High Wycombe, said the new school started to feel “real” at a ground-breaking ceremony held on November 7.

Teachers, pupils, High Wycombe mayor Cllr Sarfaraz Khan Raja and members of Bucks County Council and the builders Morgan Sindall gathered at the site to finally start work on constructing the school.

Despite torrential rain, Ms Mirza said the ceremony was “really successful”. She said: “The children got really stuck in. It is so exciting, we haven’t really ventured out like this more. It has all suddenly become very real.”

The two-storey school will open for a new academic year in September 2019 with construction expected to be completed by August next year.

Ms Mirza said the school will help to meeting rising demand in the area as thousands of new homes are built across the district.

A total of 420 primary school places will eventually be on offer, but the school will open in phases.

She said: “It is about providing a good education to our children. We are opening the school in stages because we didn’t want to have classes that were half full – we didn’t want just a few children in every class. We want full classes so we can offer the best education.”

Describing how Chepping View came to spearhead the project, the future principal said: “Our aspiration was to become a MAT and when a chance came for us to open another school, we thought it sounded like an exciting new venture.

“It was a really good opportunity for us. There was a whole bidding process we had to go through, which was a lot of work but it was a real team effort.

"We had really good feedback during our public consultation. Some people said just get on and build it. Because Chepping View is an outstanding school, I think people really trust us to carry this out. We have really high expectations for this school. We are very aspirational.”

When the school opens, it aims to be environmentally friendly with solar panels and a forest school. It will also feature a multi-use games area, sports facilities and spaces for 55 cars and three motorcycles.

To find out more information about Abbey View Primary School, go to www.abbeyviewprimaryacademy.org or call 0800 206 2244.