A new outdoor classroom was officially opened at an Ilkley school yesterday in honour of its former headteacher.

Charles Holloway, the headmaster of Westville House School, was 53 when he suddenly died on January 23, 2013. Rosey James, who has worked at the school since the 1990s, was appointed acting headteacher following Mr Holloway’s death and later became headteacher.

Before she moved to Ilkley, Mrs James taught in Namibia and Zimbabwe where she used the great outdoors and the desert to excite pupils – she used this experience to inspire her plans to create an outdoor classroom in memory of Mr Holloway. The Holloway Hut was officially opened by Captain Shaun Brown, of the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, at a ceremony watched by everyone at the school, on Carter’s Lane, Middleton.

Mrs James said: “We live in a technological age and children are exposed more and more to a virtual world where they can learn at the press of a button but not touch real things, so outdoor education is vital to counterbalance that. We are going to use the outdoor classroom for every single subject.”