MONTHS of patience paid off for a school community when a new era officially began.

Staff, parents, pupils and governors of Holy Trinity Primary School in Weymouth celebrated the opening of their new school building with the unveiling of a dedication stone.

The stone marked the end of two terms of upheaval as lessons were gradually transferred to the state-of-the-art £5 million building. The Bishop of Sherborne, the Rt Rev Tim Thornton, was joined by the youngest and oldest pupils in the school to unveil the engraved stone.

Year six pupils Jess Gardner and Matthew Playle and reception pupils Ellie Younger and Ethan Clark took to the stage to do the honours.

The Cross Road school is the first of its kind to open under Dorset County Council's Modernising Schools Programme.

Stephen Prewett, director of children's services at the county council, said: "It's a real pleasure for me to be here at the opening of the new school.

"And what a building, it's a real inspiration. The aim behind the modernising schools programme is to improve pupil achievement by providing better teaching and learning environments and I believe this building will do just that and it will help the teachers to achieve success with the children they work with."

Pupils moved into their new two-storey building in September 2007 when the infant and junior schools merged to become a primary school.

The former infant and junior buildings, on the same site, were demolished and replaced by nature areas and a soon-to-be-opened adventure playground.

Headteacher Mark Cheesley said: "Standing here now is one of the proudest moments of my life. I have taken hundreds of people around our wonderful school already and they all confirmed these positive observations about how everyone in the school feels about the place. There's certainly a great buzz here."

Chairwoman of governors Mariannick Ross, whose children have been educated at Holy Trinity, also spoke at the ceremony. Tours of the school were given after the ceremony, giving guests a chance to see the school's 23 classrooms, library, large and small halls and music and drama studio.