About 5,300 children are expected to begin showing up at Gloucester County Public Schools when the 2015-2016 school session begins on Tuesday. Of those, about 656 sixth, seventh and eighth graders will be the first students to attend the new Page Middle School.

The two-story school, located on T.C. Walker Road, will replace the former Page campus that was a short distance away on Route 17. The old school was devastated by a tornado in the spring of 2011.

For the past four years, Peasley Middle School has been packed with the county’s sixth and seventh grade population, while eighth graders attended school in clusters of mobile classrooms located on the Gloucester High School campus.

The opening of Page restores it and Peasley to sixth, seventh and eighth grade middle schools, and reduces the number of students at Peasley. Peasley expects about 730 students this fall.

Teachers returned to work on Monday of last week, with most going to their respective school after an opening ...