Children returned to the Grafton School building on Monday, just three months after it closed.

It has been taken over by Sunflowers, which was established in 2003 as a pre-school.

Sunflowers operated from its own classroom on the school site. It was hoped that pre-school children would move to the village school, making it viable again.

Over the past 30 years there had been growing concerns over dwindling rolls at the school, which resulted in previous attempts to close it being thwarted following appeals to the High Court and House of Lords.

But there was no reprieve this time as the number fell below 20 and, as parents took away their children to send them to other local schools, barely a dozen pupils remained.

Parents and supporters reluctantly recognised this was the end of Grafton School and it closed at the end of July.

However, Sunflowers are being allowed by the Salisbury Diocese, which owns the buildings, to take over the entire premises.

Former Grafton school governors’ chairman Tamara Reay said: “Since the school closed in July, a community working party has worked tirelessly to secure the future of Sunflowers, the pre-school that operated in a classroom attached to the school.”

Renamed Sunflowers at Grafton, it now offers a full-day care nursery for under-fives, and is open from 8am until 6pm and run by volunteers on a not-for-profit basis. Next January it will also be offering breakfast and after-school and holiday clubs for primary school-aged children.

Lyndsey Turner, Sunflowers manager, said: “It has been non-stop over the summer to prepare for the opening of Sunflowers at Grafton.

“We have refurbished all the classrooms and they are now wonderful spaces for babies and toddlers.”