PUPILS returning to a York school after the festive holidays had a real reason to celebrate.

There was a new £4 million building and a new public library awaiting the 300 pupils of St Oswald's Primary, in Fulford, when they returned to the site in Heslington Lane.

Head teacher Paul Marks decided to mark the occasion with a ceremony involving the old school key, presented to him by eight-year-old pupils Melissa Hill and Asim Gurung.

Later, youngsters and their parents got the chance to explore the new school building before lessons got under way.

Melissa went round with her mum, Kim, dad Dean and three-year-old sister Emily.

"I was really excited coming back to school after Christmas," said Melissa.

"I think the new building is beautiful, much better than the old one, and my parents think it's great."

Asim said: "I think it's good because it's got loads of computers and there's much more space."

St Oswald's is one of four new York schools being built as part of a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) scheme with East Riding-based firm Sewells. The total cost of the PFI projects is £17 million. The completion of this building follows the opening of St Barnabas' School, off Leeman Road, in November, while the Hob Moor Children's Centre is expected to be ready in time for Easter.

The new St Oswald's building has interactive whiteboards, specialist IT provision, a specialist dyslexia unit and will also house the local library.

In total, the PFI schools will cater for 1,100 youngsters.

The new flagship children's centre at Hob Moor, in Acomb, will be the first of its kind in the country, housing a special school and mainstream primary school under one roof.

It will replace Hob Moor Primary School and Hob Moor Oaks Special Needs School. Each will have separate head teachers, staff and classes and are expected to be completed by April.

The new community library will be more spacious, providing space for more books, and will boast extended opening hours. It will be open on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, although these sessions will replace the previous Friday evening hours of opening.

Mr Marks said: "This really is a momentous occasion, and just opens up so many avenues for the future because we were so restricted in the old building.

"The parents I have spoken to have been very positive about it and got quite a big surprise at just how big it was inside."

Demolition work will now start on the old school building, which was put up in 1930, at a cost of £7,600, when 350 pupils attended the then combined primary and secondary school.

An official ceremony to mark the opening of the new building will take place later in the year.

Opening times

THE new community library will be run by City of York Council's library service in partnership with St Oswald's Primary School.

Pupils will have additional supervised use of the library at times when it is not open to the public.

The library, in partnership with the Dyslexia Centre at St Oswald's School, is also to open a specialist Dyslexia Library Section. This will contain a wide variety of materials related to dyslexia, which will be of interest to parents, students, teachers and dyslexics.

Its new opening hours will be:

Monday: 5.30pm-7.30pm; Tuesday: 2pm-4.30pm; Wednesday: Closed; Thursday: 2pm-4.30pm; Friday: 2pm-4.30pm; Saturday: 10am-12 midday.

Updated: 10:24 Friday, January 06, 2006