PUPILS travelled back to Roman times to celebrate new beginnings at a St Albans school.

St Michael’s Church of England primary school hosted an official opening of their school buildings with a formal blessing and followed this with a Roman-themed week of activities.

The blessing, performed by Reverend Brett Gray, was to mark the changes made to the Victorian buildings over the summer holidays and the creation of a new office and entrance. The changes see the school’s youngest children move into the lower school building and the oldest move into the upper school building.

As part of the event, the youngest two children of the school opened the lower school and the eldest opened the upper building, cutting the ceremonial ribbon in front of the rest of the school.

Roman Week, which was held to tie in with National Heritage Week, saw the children learn about different aspects of Roman life and visit the Verulamium museum and focus on the museum’s exhibits. Museum staff came into the school with artefacts and children were given the chance to take part in archaeological digs.

Mosaics, which will be displayed in the entrance of each school building, were also created by the children with the help of two visiting artists.

Pupils also looked at Roman costumes and the whole school and staff dressed up as Romans for the day. Parents and members of the local community were invited to a Roman-themed afternoon of activities, including Roman songs, demonstrations of drills and a market.

Headteacher Sarah Hinchliffe said: “It was a very special week for the school in so many ways and it has brought the whole school community together in a very positive way.”