Three Chippenham primaries and a special needs school in Rowde are celebrating a Lotto windfall.

The schools are among 87 good causes across the South West to be sharing nearly £730,000 in the latest Awards for All grants from the Big Lottery Fund.

Rowdeford School near Devizes will be given £9,300, which it will use to buy a10m wide Mongolian yurt to provide outside learning activities in the school grounds.

Headteacher Ingrid Sidmouth said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have received the funding as it will allow us to maximise the use of our site for outdoor learning and will be used as a temporary classroom.

“We are looking to order the Yurt soon and hopefully it will be here in time for our garden fair in May.”

Ivy Lane Primary School in Chippenham will get £9,950 for laptops, some of which will be loaned out to parents so they can engage with their children’s learning.

Deputy head Steve Rafferty said: “We’ll be able to get 50 to 60 Chromebooks, hopefully in the next month.

“Lots of jobs our pupils will be going for in the future will be based around being computer literate.”

Queen’s Crescent School has been awarded £10,000 and will be able to to create an outdoor performance area that will support the life skills development of pupils.

Monkton Park Primary School will use its award, of £7,066, to improve its outdoor space giving access to wildlife and the natural environment.

Lyn Cole, deputy England director of the Big Lottery Fund, said: “Awards for All is about using small amounts of money to make a huge difference to local communities and people in need. We want to hear from anyone with plans to improve the lives of people around them so please get in touch with our advice line, it could make all the difference.”

The Big Lottery Fund is offering applicants tips on their applications in weekly Webinars with a live chat panel. Visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/englandwebinars