THE long term future of one of West Devon's rural primary schools has been secured with a massive £1.42 million of investment in its classrooms.

South Tawton Primary has secured the money from Devon County Council's Capital Strategy fund as part of the Capital Build programme.

It will be used to replace four outdated classroom buildings with one new purpose-built classroom block.

It will have four classrooms, each with separate cloakrooms and toilets, and additional learning space.

The buildings being demolished are four huts that stand in the school playground.

Originally built to be temporary classrooms, they have stood on the site since 1962, and are no longer fit for purpose. The project will provide a modern, single-storey building that aesthetically matches those surrounding it so it meets both Dartmoor National Park and conservation area parameters.

Cllr James McInnes, the county councillor for Hatherleigh and Chagford, is the new cabinet member responsible for education and children's services.

Cllr McInnes is pleased with the news about the school's new block.

He said: 'I have been pressing for this work for some time.

'It will mean that children at South Tawton will now have a learning environment fit for the 21st century which will enable them to achieve even more in the future.'

The school has been fighting to replace the current buildings since 2006.

South Tawton Primary's headteacher Heather Poustie and school governors have met with county council leaders each year since then to discuss the need to replace the buildings and in the last 18 months it was finally recognised that the buildings needed to be replaced.

Mrs Poustie said the news was wonderful both for the school and the village of South Zeal.

She said: 'We've been fighting to have improved accommodation ever since I started back in 2006.

'It means that we are going to have a motivating and bright, dry, warm learning centre.

'It is really nice for the children because it will be bright, it will be airy, and for us as a school it will really help with our energy bills.

'It will be a place that teachers will really want to come to work and where our children want to come to learn. That will be the big difference.

'It means we can secure our seven classes because all four classrooms are being replaced at once.

'We've got enough children to fill seven classes.

'We're expecting nearly 30 again in September. We are a popular school. It just means the future is secured.

'If a couple of buildings weren't replaced over time, the school would shrink in size.

'That could be a threat to any rural school, but we are popular and this just secures our future.

Mrs Poustie said that from the outside the current classrooms were 'dilapidated and a real eyesore'.

'Inside as classroom areas they are really bright and lovely, but that is because of the way teachers have kept them,' said the headteacher.

'Whenever I show people around I always apologise for the state of the outside of the classroom.

'Whenever they walk inside, they say:?"Oh, they're lovely".

'They cost a lot of money to maintain. They are rotten, they leak heat, and they would need upgrading and rewiring again fairly soon. With a big puff of wind they might blow away anyway!'

The work on the build is due to start this summer during the school holidays.

The work is then expected to carry on through to spring 2015. While no definitive plans have been put in place on where the four classes using the current buildings will be taught during the construction of the new school block, the school team is aiming to minimise disruption to the site.

Mrs Poustie said: 'We will need to replace those temporary buildings, and we will have to use other areas of the site to do that.

'We will have to work out where the playground area is going to be. But we intend to make sure that we can keep everything going.

'This includes preserving playground space and keeping the clubs we have going as we have loads of after-school clubs.

'The team carrying out the build have worked on very tight sites before, so we will be creative.

'It's great that we are now having all four done at once. Now we are just looking for a new build for our hall!'

Mrs Poustie expressed the school's thanks to the Sticklepath Trust who have made a contribution towards the project.