A planning application for three new permanent classrooms at St Michael’s Primary School in Ratcliffe Drive [map] has been submitted to South Gloucestershire Council.
The proposed new classrooms will be situated in a new extension at the rear of the site, taking up part of the existing playground.
Funding for the extension is coming from a financial contribution by the developer of Parkway North, required by part of a Section 106 agreement signed in 2000.
Construction of the new classrooms will allow the number of temporary classrooms on the site (currently eight) to be “reduced proportionally”.
The temporary classrooms were originally installed to cope with a an anticipated “bulge” of demand arising form the Bradley Stoke housing development. It had been anticipated to remove them once the bulge had passed but further development, particularly at Parkway North, resulted in the need to retain them.
A feasibility study carried out in 2009 confirmed the possibility of increasing accommodation at the school to provide 630 places on a permanent basis.
From the end of term school newsletter:
“Over the summer building works start in the lower playground. A 3-classroom extension is being built there, which will eventually house Year 5. Work is scheduled to last until next Spring. This is a really exciting project, and we hope that money will one day be found to build a second extension on the other side of the building close to the existing temporary classrooms.”