WATCH: Primary school in Halifax celebrates rising from the ashes by opening new building more than two years after devastating fire

Ash Green Primary School in Mixenden celebrated the official opening of their new building on their upper site with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The school was partially destroyed in an arson attack in February 2022, when four Key Stage Two classrooms and other areas were set ablaze.

Pupils spent two-and-a-half years away from the main school site and were taught in temporary classrooms borrowed from Eureka! and Dean Clough.

Headteacher Mungo Sheppard said: "I'm elated, there's a massive sense of pride in what we've done.

"We've had two-and-a-half years of uncertainty, it's gone so quickly but in some ways it seems like a lifetime away.

"We've been able to show hundreds of people a virtual tour of the building, we've been updating people weeekly about it and the sense of pride in the community - Mixended is an area not without its difficulties but it's a beautiful part of the world and having a building like this makes people feel that sense of pride.

"This is a community school, we have things going on every night and at the weekends, so to have a great facility like this, which we'll be able to do even more with, is a massive boon for the community."

The new building is the first in Calderdale to achieve net zero.

"I've got to give huge thanks to the Department for Education, the local authority, the architects and the builders, who took the blueprint and made it even better," Mungo said.

"We've got a bit more space, more outdoor space and the rooms are more efficient and airy."

Aaron Foster was jailed for life for starting the fire, which caused £4.5m of damage to the primary school he had attended himself, in October 2022.