A school has welcomed its first batch of pupils while work is on track to finish its new buildings.

Thistle Hill Academy now has 42 youngsters enrolled, in two reception classes, which had their first day on Monday, and one class each in Years 1 and 2.

Kent County Council has provided temporary classrooms, accessed via Aspen Drive on the Thistle Hill estate, Minster, just across from where the £6 million primary school development is being built.

It is expected to be finished by the end of the year with keys due to be handed over to teachers in January.

It is hoped a ‘model’ classroom will be ready by the end of September.

The school is planning to arrange with the contractors for the children to visit the building site and learn about construction while pupils on the upper floor of the temporary accommodation are able to watch the work in progress from their windows.

Once completed, the school will have 14 classrooms, a hall, a kitchen, workrooms, reception, offices, staff room, play areas, games courts and cookery room.

Lilac Sky Academies Trust is running the site and head teacher, Vicky Averre, who has been with the company for six years, is overseeing a team of 15 staff.

The 34-year-old has been in charge of a school in Essex for the last 18 months and has also held other leadership roles including at Richmond, a Lilac Sky Academy, in Sheerness, where she supported the management team.

Although it is the first time she has been at the helm of a school from its inception, Ms Averre has big ambitions for Thistle Hill.

She said: “We want to be an absolute hub of the local community and we will be striving right from the very start for it to be an outstanding academy.”

All of the present intake are from the surrounding estate, which has around 950 homes, with allocation for about another 1,500 in the future.

New reception classes will be added each September, so as the first intake progresses through to Year 6, the school will eventually grow to a capacity of 420.

The school was built to relieve pressure on places, especially in Key Stage 1.

Its opening will allow Minster primary to revert back to 60 pupils per year group from 90.

Thistle Hill is the first primary school to open on the Island since Eastchurch primary’s St Clement’s site in November 2011.

Work is also continuing on the old Danley Middle School site where the new Halfway primary will open in September next year.