Princess to open new education complex

2:37pm Friday 21st April 2006

PRINCESS Anne will visit Notton House School near Lacock in June to open its multi-million pound education centre.

Notton House, a large country house off the A350, houses a boarding school, educating boys with emotional, social and behavioural difficulties, some with learning difficulties or syndromes such as Asperger's, Tourette's and Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Its new education centre was funded by a Government grant of £1.7m with additional funding from Bristol City Council and the school's own capital grants. It will provide a large gymnasium and changing rooms, a science laboratory, an information technology suite, an English room and library, a special educational needs suite and three classrooms.

The grounds have a 3.5-acre extension where there are new sports pitches. Notton House was built in about 1766 and until 1970 was home to the Awdry family, forebears of the Rev WV Audry, author of the Thomas the Tank Engine stories. In 1970 it was purchased by Bristol City Council and became a school in 1974.