STUDENTS at the new £23million Chilton Trinity School officially have some of the best educational facilities in the country after it reached the national finals of a prestigious competition.

Chilton competed in the finals of the best educational building in the UK Building Excellence Awards after winning best educational building in the South-West at the Local Authority Building Control Regional Building Excellence Awards in the summer.

This week it narrowly lost out to Deptford Green School in London against nine other UK state-of-the-art organisations in the finals.

Chilton impressed legendary explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes who has just become a lifetime honorary patron at the school.

He said: “Chilton Trinity is unbelievable – if only all schools were like this one.”

The adventurer, called the world’s greatest living explorer by the Guinness Book of Records, was impressed by the school when he visited its launch in September.

Head teacher Lesley Greenway said: “Sir Ranulph is an inspiration to all of us and we were absolutely thrilled to hear what he thought of the school.

“We are deeply honoured that he has agreed to become an honorary patron and want to mark his historic visit in a way that will be remembered for generations.

We are incredibly lucky to have such an amazing facility in Bridgwater and we aim to build on this to become outstanding in every way.”

Chilton Trinity, which saw its best GCSE results in August, has a state-of-the-art building with finger-print technology and collapsible classrooms.