STAFF and students at St Monica's RC High School in Prestwich said "Hola" and "Bonjour" to new state-of-the-art language facilities.

An official launch of the £400,000 language college and other new buildings at the Bury Old Road site was held with the Bishop of Salford, Rt Rev Terence Brain as special guest.

The event was the culmination of months of hard work since St Monica's was awarded specialist language status last year which they gained with the intention of offering French, Spanish and Mandarin lessons to pupils and the wider community.

Headteacher Frank McCarron said: "We welcomed 39 guests of honour to the launch and showed them around the new language labs and demonstrated the new technology. We also officially launched our other new buildings which have been open for about a year, such as the dining hall, music block and drama facility."

Also present at the launch were Ivan Lewis MP, Monsignor John Allen, of Our Lady of Grace RC Church, representatives from HSBC, who contributed to the school's bid for specialist status, and Coronation Street actress Liz Dawn, who plays Vera Duckworth, who has a member of her family attending the school.

Evening classes at the school in French and Spanish are already very popular and Mr McCarron said lessons in Mandarin are expected to begin in September.