Maria recently visited Winklebury Infant and Junior Schools, as part of her programme of regular visits to Basingstoke schools. She met Mrs Christine Clayton and Mrs Katy Bartlett, Head and Deputy Head of the Federation of both schools, to catch up on recent progress and developments at the schools. After a short tour of the Infant School to see changes since her last visit, Maria then met members of the School Council from both schools.

Maria said: “I very much enjoyed my meeting with the School Council and asked them about their ideas for making Basingstoke an even better place to live. Like many young people they were concerned about litter and graffiti and we talked about ways to tackle these issues.” 

On Friday 29th January, Maria attended the official opening of the new primary school at Rooksdown. The school is the Rooksdown campus of Castle Hill Primary School, and opened to pupils in September 2015.  

The official opening was also attended by the Mayor, Mrs Anne Court, Councillor Peter Edgar, Hampshire County Council Executive Member for Education and John Coughlan, Chief Executive of Hampshire County Council. Local County Councillor Stephen Reid and Borough Councillor Simon Bound were also present.

Maria said: “It was a real pleasure to come to the opening of this splendid new school, which is the first new school in Basingstoke for around 15 years, and is an important part of the huge investment that Hampshire County Council is making in Basingstoke’s schools. I was also delighted to join with others in marking John Martin’s 25 years as Head Teacher of Castle Hill.”