THE first step has just been taken in a major expansion plan for South Tawton Primary School, aimed at replacing temporary classrooms and providing a new hall for use by the school and the community.
A planning application has been submitted to Dartmoor National Park Authority for removal of the portable classrooms, formation of a new car park , a new school and community hall and ancillary facilities in South Zeal.
Headteacher Bobby Sutton said the application was part of an exciting, on-going plan to improve facilities at the school.
Mrs Sutton said:? This is the first step, to get outline planning permission and approval from Dartmoor National Park Authority. Once we have that, we will be writing a sports development plan for funding. The local education authority are supporting it in principal ? it?s all really tied into upgrading of the school.
?It?s quite exciting ? we?re not sure when and how it?s going to go ahead but at the moment our capacity of seven classes, that?s 210 children, can?t actually all fit into our hall.?
Mrs Sutton said it was too early to estimate the total cost of the project, but it had been scaled down slightly from a previous plan, following local consultations.
She said it was a ?very long process? but was ?very hopeful? that an application to the National Lottery to help fund the project would be able to be submitted fairly soon.
The school was hoping to be included in the local authority?s building programme for the following year.
Tony Clark, chairman of governors at the school, said: ?We have recognised that there is a deficiency in the premises provided for our children, in that we are unable to satisfy requirements of the PE national curriculum and we can?t assemble all the children in one space.?
Mr Clark said the school was built in 1875 and simply could not accommodate the number of children now using the facilities.
He said planning the new hall had been undertaken very much in tandem with needs for indoor sporting facilities for the parishes of Belstone, Sticklepath, South Zeal and South Tawton.
?We are very concerned to make the building appropriate to South Zeal, while also making sure we balance the school?s requirements with community needs,? he said.
A spokesman for Devon County Council said it was too early to say which schools would be included in the capital building programme for next year, but that an announcement would be made in February as to which schools would benefit.