Work on the new Raglan VC Church in Wales Primary School building, which is being built as part of the council's 21st Century School programme, is progressing well, with the main build due to be completed in June.

The new £4.5million school will offer pupils fabulous facilities similar to those at Caldicot's Dewstow Primary School, which opened last autumn.

The cabinet member for education, councillor Liz Hacket Pain, pictured below with headteacher Jeremy Piper, said: "While we know that there is more to good schools than bricks and mortar, it is widely acknowledged that the environment in which pupils learn plays a pivotal role in their achievement.

"This new state-of-the-art school is designed to get the very best out of our pupils.

"I'm sure that the whole village looks forward to taking advantage of this wonderful new community facility, when it opens its doors in September."

The current Raglan school site suffers poor energy and high maintenance levels with limitations reflected in the county's condition survey records which indicate it is among six primary schools that fall into the lowest category. Of these six schools Raglan is the only one with separate junior and infant blocks, which conflicts with the county's aim of bringing together all children at primary level under one roof.

Raglan Primary School head teacher Jeremy Piper said: "You can see the new school really taking shape. The pupils, staff and the whole school community are really looking forward to starting in our new learning environment.

"Through its innovative design, we will be able to develop cross-phase, cross-class and cross-curricular learning opportunities more effectively to meet the needs of all pupils. The learning environment is designed to be flexible, allowing us to adapt the learning environment to enable even more innovative and exciting ways of learning to be developed.

"I'm confident that the final build will be a vibrant, welcoming environment that clearly motivates staff and pupils to be the best they can be, and an environment of which the whole community can be proud."

Monmouthshire County Council and Welsh Government have committed an equal share of the cost of the £4.5m building.