A SCHOOL trip to the museum? The pupils at Ysgol Gymraeg Casnew-ydd won't be going far - they now have their own museum on-site.

O'r Blaen ac Ymlaen was opened by Newport East AM John Griffiths and staff and pupils of the Newport school took the opportunity to dress in costumes from various historical eras for the day.

Head teacher Gwenda Roberts said: "We are very proud to announce the opening of our school museum.

"It is a wonderful teaching resource which can be used by all pupils, from four-year-olds to 11-year-olds.

"We are grateful for the support of the governors and the PTA have purchased many artefacts for the museum and have been very supportive.

"I would like to thank Walt Ironside who designed and built our wonderful museum and our history co-ordinator Lona Jones-Campbell for her hard work in creating it."

Mrs Jones-Campbell said: "Instead of just having all these wonderful artefacts in a cupboard somewhere I said we should have our own museum.

"The construction, the build and the site cost us £2,000 and the artefacts were another £1,000.

"The name was chosen by the pupils - there's no literal translation, but it means, 'What has been before and what is to come'.

"The artefacts we've got range from reproductions from Roman times right through to objects from the Victorian era including washbasins and everything else. It's given the children the opportunity to make history tangible and realistic."

* In the picture: Pupils enjoy looking at artefacts at Ysgol Gymraeg Casnewydd.