Princess Anne yesterday opened Wootton Bassett's new school premises toured its CCTV control room. But she betrayed no concern about any impending court action concerning her royal terriers.

BHAVANI VADDE reports.

THE Princess Royal received a rapturous welcome when she officially opened the new Wootton Bassett School .

She met students, staff, governors and other civic dignitaries during a tour of the building, which has been open since February.

Arriving in a Range Rover, which she drove herself, the Princess appeared relaxed despite being summoned to court following an alleged attack by one of her terriers on a member of the public in Windsor Great Park.

She and her husband, Commodore Tim Laurence, have been summoned to appear before East Berkshire magistrates later this month under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

But this was forgotten yesterday. On entering the school, she was presented with a posy of peach roses by Thomas Mulholland and Sophie Warlow who are both aged 11 and the youngest pupils at the schools.

Wearing a light blue knee-length skirt and a green and blue long jacket, she toured the premises taking in the school's hi-tech facilities which include art and music departments, the gym and the library, chatting to staff and pupils along the way.

She was accompanied on the tour by head boy Alex Collins, 18 and head girl Stephanie Brown, 17.

Stephanie said: "It was fantastic going around with her. She showed a real interest and was really easy to talk to."

Alex said: "We feel quite privileged that she has come to our school."

The Princess also spent some time talking to Sophie Gullick, 15, Samantha Freeman, 15, and Natalie Cook, 15, about their fundraising activities for Save the Children, a charity of which she is president. She also spent time talking to Ben Clark, 18, and Rachel Aston, 17, who raise funds for Prospect Hospice and Headways through the sixth form charity challenge.

Sophie said: "I was really nervous and excited. I just explained we raised £1,051 by doing lots of activities such as a sponsored silence, a talent contest and a non-uniform day."

As the Princess was leaving the school, three Hercules transport planes paid tribute to her visit with a fly-past.

Wiltshire County Council commissioned the company White Horse Education to build the school under a £40 million PFI initiative, which included the construction of two smaller schools in Chippenham and Malmesbury.

The company will receive £2 million a year from the county council for rent and provision of other services such as catering, cleaning and maintenance which will be managed by Group 4 Falck on its behalf.

Chris Montacute, headteacher, said: "We are obviously delighted that the Princess Royal has taken time out of her busy schedule to come and officially open the new school.

"It is a great honour and all 1,500 students were quite excited to get the chance to get a sight of the Princess.

"I hope she enjoyed the visit as much as I enjoyed showing her around."

After the tour, the Princess unveiled a plaque and presented eight teachers with certificates for their long service to the school including one to Peter Sheppard who has taught there for 36 years.

The school's very first headteacher Frank King, 95, of Okus Road, Swindon, also attended the event.

He said: "This is the first time I have seen the new school buildings. I have bumped into some of my old pupils who are now grandparents themselves.

"I've never met royalty before. I think it's great she came to the school."

James Gray, MP for North Wiltshire, says the school is a prime example of how PFI initiatives can work.

"It's quite interesting that on the day the unions are opposing PFI initiatives at the labour party conference, here is an example of how the schemes can work.

"Wootton Bassett would never have had a new school so quickly if it wasn't for PFI. It could have taken another 20 or 30 years.

"It's not commercialisation of education because education is still provided by the state for free."