Children cheered with joy at their brand new school built on the former RAF Uxbridge site.

Pupils at John Locke Academy in Baden Road on the St Andrew’s Park Estate in Uxbridge are beginning to settle in after joining the school when it first opened three weeks ago.

There are only two Reception classes and one nursery class at the moment but when the primary school is full it will hold around 600 students.

Headteacher Darrell Butler, the former deputy headteacher of Hillingdon Primary School, said: “It is quiet at the moment but it is a lovely new school with brand new facilities.

“It is very peaceful - you would hardly know we are in the centre of Uxbridge.”

The school is surrounded by playing fields and boasts a multi-use games area which can be used by sports clubs on evenings and weekends.

The site was once a training ground for Olympians and Commonwealth athletes after the first world war.

Youngsters last week were enjoying their new playgrounds and the attention of teachers in small classes.

“Once families move into the new homes in St Andrew’s Park they will be able to bring their children here,” Mr Butler said.

Work at St Andrew’s Park, a multimillion-pound regeneration project to revitalise the former RAF Uxbridge base on Hillingdon Hill, began in 2013.

The project on the 110-acre site will take an estimated seven years to complete. When it is finished it will hold 1,340 new homes, 45 acres of public space, leisure facilities including a new theatre, a museum, and 20,000 square metres of commercial space for shops and businesses.

As well as the new primary school, there will be a GP surgery in the park and supported housing for elderly residents.

John Locke Academy, run by the Elliot Foundation, was named after the 17th Century philosopher and Enlightenment thinker.