Her Majesty The Queen has visited Sunderland to open Washington School accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.

The Royal couple were in the city on Friday November 6 to open the brand new £19 million building.

This eco-friendly building is one of the flagships of Sunderland City Council's Building Schools for the Future Programme.

During a tour of the school, Her Majesty The Queen visited a cookery lesson where pupils were making cakes and muffins then visited an art lesson where pupils were making clay tiles and was invited to join a maths lesson.

His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh also visited a computer aided design lesson, observed a music lesson and met pupils who are studying the school's sustainability and carbon footprint.

Following the tour of the school, Her Majesty unveiled a commemorative plaque then the Head teacher invited Her Majesty and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh to sign the visitors' book.

Washington School Head Teacher Mike O'Brien said: "The pupils, staff, governors and community of Washington School are honoured that Her Majesty and His Royal Highness accepted our invitation to visit and officially open the new school building.

"When we told the pupils that we were to have such special guests they were really excited. That The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh should come to see our school and those who belong to it is a special treat by any standards."

With one of the largest sedum-planted roofs in the country, rainwater harvesting system, solar panels, biomass boiler and plans for a wind turbine, the school is one of the greenest in the UK.

But the innovation doesn't end there. The school is a recognised specialist technology college with a state-of-the-art new technology centre.

This puts technology at the centre of the educational experience for pupils and the extended school and wider community, with 24 hour access to the internet, intranet, multi-media packages and video conferencing.

With an emphasis on personal and community development, there is also a strong vocational element to teaching with the school providing a number of diploma courses in everything from motor vehicle maintenance and construction to hospitality, catering and hair and beauty.

The school was built by Balfour Beatty and both pupils and staff were involved in its design, working with architect James Austin of Space Architects to say how they thought it should look.

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Queen opens Washington School - in photos

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