A new £1.5 million improvement scheme at St Nicholas Junior School in Sidmouth will go on display to parents and the local community at a special open evening later this month.

The ambitious project has provided six purpose-built classrooms to replace ageing temporary accommodation along with a new staff room and offices for the headteacher and administration staff.

The new classrooms have been linked with the existing school buildings and the playing field has been levelled.

As a Church of England school, the governors have to help pay for the building work and have raised almost £100,000 towards the cost.

The SNAP campaign, or St Nicholas Action on Premises, has been well supported by the people of the town with parents, former parents, governors and staff putting on a range of fund-raising activities.

School governor Peter Rose, who chairs the premises committee, said: 'We are absolutely delighted with these new buildings and we want to show them off.

'We have a real debt of gratitude to many people in Sidmouth who have helped us create this new building.

'They include those who have donated money, those who have carried out fund-raising activities and our neighbours, who have been very tolerant while the building work has been going on.

'This has taken a while to come to fruition and there are also parents of children who have now left the school who may like to see what we've done.'

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