Bath & North East Somerset Council has invested £7.5m expanding three primary schools across the district to provide hundreds of additional places for pupils.
Extra places are needed due to an increase in local housing development and general population growth.
Among the schools to benefit was St Nicholas CoE Primary School in Radstock (pictured above: pupils from St Nicholas CoE School in Radstock celebrate the offical opening of their new school building), where a new £2.4m teaching block was officially opened on Friday.
The school now has four new light and airy classrooms and a large activity/tech room as well as staff and group space. The existing school buildings have also been improved with the reception area remodelled and refurbished and the school kitchens enlarged to cater for the additional number of children.
As a result of the expansion, St Nicholas can now accommodate an extra 140 pupils bringing its capacity to 420.
The new extension to Castle Primary in Keynsham
An additional 210 places have been created with the expansion of Castle Primary School in Keynsham. A new teaching block, incorporating four new classrooms and a hall has been constructed, existing school buildings substantially remodelled and classrooms and facilities refurbished.
Whitchurch Primary School extension
Whitchurch Primary has also benefitted from significant investment with the construction of four new classrooms in a new teaching block. The expansion means the school will be able to take an additional 105 pupils. The energy efficient building was designed with the latest guidance on ventilation in schools to provide the best indoor environment for teaching and learning.
Councillor Kevin Guy, cabinet member for Children’s Services, said, “As our communities evolve and grow, we need to invest in our schools to ensure they meet the demand for places. We’ve built fantastic modern facilities which will serve their local communities for many years to come. Providing additional places in areas that are growing will also help us tackle the climate emergency as pupils will be able to walk, cycle or use public transport to get to school reducing car journey’s and carbon emissions.”