Ground was broken to mark the construction of a new £7.5million primary school.

Ashmole Primary School's new two-form school building has begun construction, which will end in a 2,072 square metres of learning space for 420 pupils, aged four to 11.

Mayor of Barnet Cllr Brian Salinger joined pupils from the school at a special groundbreaking ceremony.

Chris Tofallis, headteacher at Ashmole Primary School, said: "We are all very excited with the building of our new school. We are looking forward to the year ahead where we will see all our children enjoy the excellent facilities set up for their use.

"The creation of our modern and permanent building will allow us to fulfil our vision to provide the very best standards in education for all our primary children. The new building will allow us to deliver a broad, balanced and creative curriculum with many extra-curricular activities on offer.

"The new primary school building will provide an outstanding setting and I know that the children, parents and staff will be thrilled with the new learning environment. Ashmole Primary School will be a school that the whole community will be very proud of."

The new building will provide a permanent home for the school, based on the same site as Ashmole Academy.

The school, which is being built as part of a government scheme to build 49 new free schools, is due to be completed in summer 2018 and is being delivered by Morgan Sindall.