A revolutionary new school that promises to 'touch the earth lightly' is nearing completion in Braintree.

Work on The Notley Green Primary School - the word 'green' referring to its ethos not its location - will be going on throughout the summer in readiness for the first 50 pupils, aged between four and 11, who will start at the Blickling Road school in Panners Farm Hamlet on September 7.

The school features:

A 'green' roof, covered with sedum, a succulent plant to provide a microclimate for insects and birds

No parking spaces for parents, to encourage walking to school and the use of public transport

A 'breathing wall, filled with recycled newspaper and waste wood products to allow water vapour to breathe to the outside

A radical use of space, with sliding doors and an internal inner courtyard to create flexible spaces with an open, airy atmosphere

The £1.2 million primary school has been designed for Essex County Council by architects Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, winners of an international Design Council competition to build an energy efficient school for the future.

The school is designed initially to provide places for 180 local children from the developing Great Notley Garden Village and surrounding area, although it could grow to over 350 in the first decade of the new century.

A presentation on the school, held last week in Notley Garden Village community centre, attracted over 50 prospective parents, while pupils will have a chance to inspect their school during an open day before the start of the autumn term.

Headteacher Fay Trussler, appointed in May, has been at the school this week inspecting work.

"This is a wonderful building and environmental sustainability will be part of school policy from the beginning," she said. Car free journeys to school, care of wildlife and recycling will all form an important part of the life of the school, she said.

"Care for the environment is about education," Mrs Trussler said."If people don't understand then they can't be expected to care, but we find that often it is the youngest children who care most about the environment."

However, despite the school being in many ways a green 'first', Mrs Trussler is insistent that at Notley Green children will take priority.

"Of course we are very privileged to be opening a new school in such a wonderful building, but the children and their education comes first every time.

"This is not an experiment. or a showpiece, the most important people here are the children. This is a school that will obviously expand very gradually as our catchment area is still being built.

"We are planning to be very much part of this growing new community, it's very exciting. We will all be new together and we'll all learn together.This will be above all a community school, a school for local children."

The school has six classrooms, each with its own outdoor area, which children will be encouraged to landscape, plant and tend. The areas will be canopied to allow outdoor study in the summer.

John Perks, chairman of the temporary governing board, said: "The building is certainly unique, but we want to make sure it fits in with the local community. We have been encouraged by the huge amount of interest shown by local parents so far.

"We believe that The Notley Green Primary School will be a real centre for the community that is being built here."

New headteacher Fay Trussler and chairman of the temporary governing board John Perks outside The Notley Green Primary School.

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