A SCHOOL in the United States where 26 staff and pupils were gunned down, including a six-year-old boy from Hampshire, has reopened after it was rebuilt following the tragedy.

Dylan Hockley, who grew up in Easteligh, was one of 20 children killed at Sandy Hook Primary School n Connecticut after gunman Adam Lanza went on the rampage.

Dylan and his family moved to the US after his dad Ian’s job at IBM was transferred from Hursley to New York.

Dylan’s older brother Jake, eight, survived the massacre in December 2012.

The new Sandy Hook Elementary School has now opened to the public, containing no obvious memorials to the 26 people who died inside the old school nearly four years ago but created with them in mind.

The £38 million replacement for the school torn down after the massacre was designed in a forest theme with the goal of being attractive, environmentally friendly, conducive to learning and, above all, safe.

Visitors will need to pass through a driveway gate, across a moat-like rain garden and past two police officers and a video monitoring system to get inside.

Once there, they will find 86,000 square feet of art-filled space with three courtyards, lots of windows - all bulletproof - and indoor nooks designed to look like tree houses.

"Let me state unequivocally that we would trade in a minute this beautiful new school for the more familiar and ancient Sandy Hook school, built in the 50s, if we could just change the past," said Pat Llodra, the town's first selectman.

The school was built on the same property but not in the old footprint. All that remains are two large concrete slabs containing dinosaur footprints that also sat outside the old building.

Local officials hope allowing people to take a look at the school this week will give students a "quiet, respectful, and appropriate opening as teachers and students return to the new school year" on August 29, Superintendent Joseph Erardi said.