School plans to open two new classrooms
Two new classrooms will be built at a primary school in Cannock to cope with growing demand for places, under plans revealed today.
Five Ways Primary School in Heath Hayes has now reached its full capacity.
Pupil rolls across Staffordshire are expected to swell by 5,000 by 2014-15 due to a baby boom and new housing developments being built.
Councillor Ian Parry, who is Staffordshire's education chief, said there were pockets of the county where extra school places were desperately needed.
He said: "We have had an increase in pupil numbers in places like Burton and pockets of Staffordshire. This is happening all over the country. We are starting to invest now. Birth rates will rise and fall. We have to keep a close eye on it."
Under the plans, a temporary building will be set up on part of the playground at Five Ways in Langholm Drive that will house two classrooms. Two new members of staff will also be employed by the school to deal with the rise in pupil numbers.
A decision is likely to be made on the plans in April. Five Ways Primary currently has 667 pupils on roll. By September that figure will go up to 696 and then 727 the following year.
Last December, education chiefs revealed that thousands of extra primary school places needed to be created in the next two years. Council bosses have set aside £500,000 to allow schools to create extra classes. Hundreds of places are expected to be provided by a new school in Stafford, but it is not expected to open until 2015/16.
It will cater for soldiers' families, as 1,200 troops are due to transfer to MOD Stafford by 2015.
