“An incredible opportunity to provide the children and families of the town with the first class facilities they deserve!”

That is how Claire Fegan, Head of School at Sidmouth Primary, described news that a multi-million pound new building had been approved.

The school’s Manstone Avenue site, previously Sidmouth Infants, will be expanded and redeveloped over the next 18 months to provide a modern, purpose-built facility, enabling all of the school’s youngest pupils to be taught in one place.

Work will be carried out from September 2021 to August 2022 with no pupils on the site, making everything much safer and enabling the project team to work quickly.

For that school year, existing Manstone site children will be schooled at the Woolbrook Road site and all new starters in reception will spend their first year at the Vicarage Road site.

The new school will be ready to open to its pupils for the start of the new school year in September 2022.

At this point, the Vicarage Road site – previously All Saints Infants – will be handed back to Exeter Diocese who own the land the school was built on.

The school has been supported by Devon County Council to secure this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to shape the future of Sidmouth Primary.

Mrs Fegan said: “This is an incredible opportunity to provide the children and families of the town with the first class facilities they deserve.

“But I appreciate that alongside the excitement of something new comes sadness at having to move on from the history of the All Saints and Sidmouth Infants sites as they were.”

Mrs Fegan said that without the planned development, both infant sites would require significant repairs and maintenance work.

A highways consultant has been appointed to review the potential impact on traffic and parking working alongside residents, Devon County Council and Sidmouth Town Council.

Sidmouth Primary is part of First Federation Trust and Paul Walker, CEO of the multi academy trust said: “Reducing the costs of running and maintaining all three sites will enable us to divert funding to teaching and learning that will make a real difference to the children.”