The first pupils to attend Ely’s new primary school will spend their first year in a mobile classroom while they wait for builders to finish work on their school.

The Isle of Ely Primary School was given the go-ahead by Cambridgeshire County Council earlier this year and will be run as an academy by the Active Learning Trust in the north of the city, off Cam Drive.

The school is being built to cope with the district’s rapidly increasing population, which has put a strain on primary school places in the city.

The council says its expects the first phase of work to be finished on the new school by September 2015 – but the school’s first intake begins under head teacher Bryony Surtees in September this year.

As a result, the county council has been forced to apply for planning permission to install a new mobile classroom in the grounds of St Mary’s Primary School, in High Barns, to cater for the new intake.

The two schools will share premises for a year, after which, it is hoped, the Isle of Ely will move out into their own premises.

County council officials said: “Cambridgeshire County Council has identified Ely as an area in high need of further facilities for primary school education.

“From their data, they have found that the number of children in the surrounding area are dependent on a new school being built, and this new mobile classroom is being installed to cater for a maximum of 60 of these children that need a school place.

“This classroom is being built to cater for the first year of the new school whilst it’s being built, as this should be completed by September 2015.

“This measure is for a yearlong period as the new school will be completed by then.”