Wolverhampton school to get seven new classrooms
Seven new classrooms are to be built at a primary school and seven extra staff taken on as part of a £13 million plan to create hundreds of new school places across Wolverhampton.
Trinity CE Primary School in Heath Town has been given the go-ahead for the extension, which will allow it to increase its capacity by 50 per cent.
The plans will also see six existing classrooms enlarged, the assembly hall extended and a new main entrance built at the school in Longford Road.
The total floorspace will increase by more than a quarter, from 29,192 sq ft to 37,480 sq ft.
The scheme is part of a wider plan across the city to cope with the rocketing demand for primary school place.
Last year a report to the council said more places were urgently needed.
The authority approved a £13 million cash injection to build extensions at Trinity CE, Fallings Park and Dunstall Hill primary schools, creating a total of 630 new places across the city.
Trinity CE will see its pupil numbers eventually grow from 420 to 630, after it was agreed that the number of new pupils it admitted next term should rise from 60 to 90.
Fallings Park Primary School will increase its pupil numbers by the same amount, while Dunstall Hill Primary School will see its capacity double from 210 to 420 pupils.
Cabinet member for schools at Wolverhampton Council, Councillor Phil Page, said it was hoped that the work would be finished by September next year(2015).
"It is good news for Wolverhampton," he said.
"The council has a statutory duty to provide sufficient school places, and we have a plan in place to ensure they will be in the places where they are needed most."
It emerged earlier this year that pupils may be taught in temporary classrooms as part of moves to revolutionise the city's school system.
Demand for places has shot up 26 per cent in 10 years. As a result, controversial 'bulge' classes, which see some city schools temporarily create space for extra pupils, are set to be introduced.
Bosses say classes will still have a maximum of 30 pupils.
Other schools are also to be expanded in the coming years.
Funding for the project will be sourced in the coming months. Initial discussions have taken place with bosses at each of the schools recommended to expand its intake.
