CORONATION Street star Jane Danson was on hand to officially open University Academy Warrington on Wednesday - much to the students’ delight.

Pupils welcomed the actress at the front of the school in Padgate where she signed books and posed for photographs.

Jane, who is more commonly known as Leanne Battersby, said: “I would just like to say a huge thank you for inviting me here this evening. It has been a pleasure to be a part of this event.”

The soap actresses was on hand to reveal the honoury plaque which announced the school’s official change in status to an academy but a slight technical problem left Jane shouting ‘take two’ before finally revealing the commemorative board.

The opening event began with a champagne reception and buffet before Jane was whisked away to watch two performances on Facebook and Julian Assange by the academy’s year 11 GCSE drama students.

Jane said: “I studied drama at school and it brought back such good memories watching your performances.”

Guest then walked the short distance to the sports hall where they were treated to a beautifully-crafted performance by Gym Starz Jump Starz.

Principal Alison Sherman welcomed guests to the celebrations and spoke about the academy’s aspirations for the future.

Mrs Sherman said: “Along the way [to academy status] we have achieved out best ever results where 60% of our pupils gained the national benchmark of A* to C grades making us the fifth highest achieving school in Warrington.

“This summer we hope to improve on these grades.”

The rest of the opening celebrations focused on the academy’s specialist areas of mathematics and performance.

Guest were treated to a monologue by head boy Ben Thomas, a performance by the key stage four dance enrichment group as well as a humourous show from Murderous Maths author Kjartan Poskitt.