Next Wednesday will be a day pupils at Grampound Road Church of England Primary School will never forget. On that day they will be welcoming Prince Charles who is due to officially open their new £1 million school.

It will certainly be a real red letter day for one of the youngest pupils who will present Prince Charles with a box of Cornish fudge.

The royal visitor is expected to spend an hour at Grampound Road, the third new Church of England Primary School to be opened in Cornwall in the last six months - following new schools at Wendron and Braddock .

Following his arrival at 10.30am, accompanied by Lady Mary Holborow, Lord Lieutenant of Cornwall, the prince will be presented to representatives of county, district and parish councils; the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev Bill Ind; Julian Pykett, the diocesan board director of education; Doris Ansari, the county council's executive member for lifelong learning; Geoff Aver, director of education, arts and libraries; Judy Uden, headteacher of Grampound Road School; and Jenny Kwee, chairman of governors.

Also attending the opening ceremony will be governors, staff and parents, representatives of the local education authority and the diocesan board of education; the school's architects and contractors and members of the local community.

Prince Charles will then visit each of the school's four classrooms and the library and IT suite, before signing the school's visitors' book and unveiling a plaque in the school grounds.

Before the unveiling of the plaque Bishop Bill will say a prayer and bless the new building.

The prince, who is Duke of Cornwall, was invited to Grampound Road by the chairman of governors Jenny Kwee, who said: "After the long struggle for our new school we wanted to do something very special to mark the official opening. We thought a visit by Prince Charles would be a wonderful surprise for the staff and so we were delighted when we heard that he had accepted our invitation.

"Everyone at Grampound Road is really looking forward to showing him around our amazing new school."

Headteacher Judy Uden is also delighted by the visit. "This is certainly something the village and everyone connected with the school will remember for a long, long time," she said.

"We are incredibly proud of our fantastic new building which has already been praised by visitors. It is in a beautiful location and our parents and governors have been working hard to build an outdoor classroom and landscape the grounds."

As a Church of England school, Grampound Road comes under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Truro and Julian Pykett, the diocesan director of education, said: "I am absolutely delighted that Prince Charles is coming to perform the opening ceremony.

"The Anglican church in the Diocese of Truro is very committed to its work in primary school education and has been extremely keen that the children of Grampound Road should have a new environment in which to be educated.

"The old school, which has been in use for over 100 years, has been the place where many generations of Grampound Road children have been taught, but the early years of this new millennium are a perfect time to start afresh in a brand new building which I hope and believe will last for at least a century

"I am very grateful to many partner organisations in both the public and private sectors who have made this wonderful day possible, and that the heir to the throne should honour the village, the Diocese of Truro, and Cornwall with his presence is the icing on the cake for us all."

The school has been designed by architect John Tanner, from the Bazeley Partnership, based in St Austell. The firm has looked after all Church of England primary schools for the Diocese of Truro Board of Education for almost 30 years.

The school was built by local contractors John Nicholls Ltd, of St Agnes, on a site at the entrance to the village.

The building includes four classrooms, a hall and computer suite, with attractive grounds and playing fields. It replaces a Victorian building which has been the home of the school since 1892. Work started on building the new school in June 2002, with the school officially handed over to Julian Pykett and headteacher Judy Uden on March 28.