A ceremony has taken place to mark the official opening of the new £14.5 million Rossmar Special School in Limavady.

Education Minister Michelle McIlveen visited the new facility to celebrate the opening.

Speaking at the official opening, Minister McIlveen said: "I am so impressed with the fantastic facilities at Rossmar Special School following a significant investment of £14.5m from my Department.

"Students from nursery age right up to 19 now have access to bright and colourful classrooms and specialist rooms for therapy targeted at supporting children with special educational needs.

"I want to congratulate everyone involved in bringing this impressive project to fruition, including school staff, Governors, consultants, contractors, and officials."

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Staff and pupils moved into the new school building in April 2021.

The school is split across three wings: nursery and primary; multi-purpose hall, school meals accommodation and classrooms for home economics, art, science and music and finally secondary level for pupils aged up to 19.

There are also two sensory rooms, a soft playroom, a total immersion room and specialist subject rooms including Home Economics, Music, Design and Technology.

Principal of Rossmar Special School, Principal Caroline Clements added: "Today is another milestone for pupils and staff as we are finally able to celebrate our official opening. It has been a long journey with many challenges to reach this point with many years of waiting for approval up until the first sod was cut in 2018. In the middle of the pandemic, we had to move from the old school into the new one but thanks to the commitment and determination of our staff and governors we succeeded in making it as easy and comfortable as possible for our pupils.

"All of our hard work over the last years have resulted in a fantastic new school of which we are all very proud. I want to thank everyone who has been involved in bringing us to this stage including our staff, pupils, governors, contractors, the Department and the Education Authority and of course the wider school community."