Children could finally be back in a purpose-built school within the next three months after more than three years of being taught in temporary classrooms.

Work on building the £6m new primary school at Dartington began last summer.

And a Devon County Council spokesman said: “The new school building at Dartington is nearing completion and the intention is for the children and staff to be able to move in after Easter.”

Meanwhile, a £1.5m project to reshape classroom facilities at St John’s School in Bridgetown is likely to be completed in time for the pupils return to school in September 2019.

The county spokesman said: “We are phasing in the proposed development at St John’s to match the need for school places in the Totnes area. The major scheme at the school is planned to be ready for September 2019, subject to a review of pupil need and funding.”

The construction at Dartington will be the second primary school to be built and opened in the village in the last nine years.

A disaster eco school which cost £6m to build had to be closed down four years ago because of leaks and was finally demolished completely.

Meanwhile, the pupils have been being taught in a temporary school next to the construction site as they wait for the new classrooms to be completed.

The council won an £8m pay out after settling with the architects who drew up the plans for the doomed school and the contractors who built it.

Plan were unveiled in 2016 for the new school which will cater for 315 pupils plus a nursery with space for 30 youngsters.

The project includes 12 classrooms along with a new school reception and admin section, a school hall, a kitchen and plant room.

The proposals for St John’s Primary School include five new classrooms, an enlarged school hall and improvements to offices and toilets.

They have been drawn up to cope with rising pupils numbers in the wake of hundreds of new homes which have been completed or are being built in the area.

The plans for the Bridgetown school were first unveiled more than a year ago and came less than a year after the completion of the £3m Grove Primary School scheme on the other side of Totnes, which also came with a brand new classroom block allowing that primary school also to expand its pupils numbers.