Princess Anne officially opens Amesbury school

Her Royal Highness has visited King's Gate Primary School.

Author: Faye TryhornPublished 9th Oct 2020

The Princess Royal has officially opened the school on the King's Gate estate, ten months after her previous planned visit to do the honours had to be postponed due to bad weather.

True to her word that she'd return, HRH Princess Anne has been back to Amesbury this week to meet Executive Headteacher Nicola Gilbert.

She met pupils across all the age groups, while touring the classrooms in their two storey, environmentally friendly building.

King's Gate Primary in Amesbury first opened to pupils in September 2019

The Princess Royal also unveiled a plaque to mark the occasion and was presented with a posy of flowers by 9 year old King's Gate pupil, Orlaith.

Executive Headteacher Nicola Gilbert said:

"The pupils have loved having our Royal visitor today and enjoyed the opportunity to show off our brand new school, which we are all very proud of. This purpose-built learning environment will enable us to deliver high quality, exciting learning in a stimulating and safe way to all our pupils."

The Princess Royal was also joined by Wiltshire's Vice Lord-Lieutenant, William Wyldbore-Smith, who stepped in to do the honours last time around, so the children weren't left disappointed after preparing for their special visit.

The Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Wiltshire helped to mark the last time the Princess Royal was due to visit - she had to postponed due to foggy weather

Helean Hughes, Director for Education and Skills, said:

"I'm sure the pupils will enjoy learning in this bright, beautiful environment. We are fortunate HRH could spend time to look around one of our Wiltshire schools and see the excellent learning taking place."

The primary school currently has 110 pupils but has been built for a total of 315 pupils.