STRATFORD, Conn. - A teacher who died trying to protect her students during the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown has had a new school named after her.

The Victoria Soto School was dedicated Friday in her hometown of Stratford. The 27-year-old Soto was among six staff members and 20 children killed in the December 2012 shooting.

Jillian Soto said her sister always looked forward to the first day of school, and now children "will always remember who she was and what she did."

Stratford School Superintendent Janet Robinson was Newtown's superintendent at the time of the shootings. She says the new school reflects "the joy of learning" that is Soto's legacy.

About 200 students from preschool through second grade will attend the school. There are images of flamingos, Soto's favorite animal, throughout the building.