'Nowhere for the children to go': Primary school bids for new temporary classrooms

Ashcombe Primary School has submitted a planning application for the temporary classrooms as an 'old' block is 'suffering from structural failure'.

The original school was built in the late 1960s and those buildings are failing, the applications says.

Some of the original structures were replaced in 2013, when a new teaching block was built at the Earlham Grove school, but several still remained.

Now, those too are set to be replaced with the temporary structures.

The application says: "The larger of the two old blocks has since been vacated due to the poor and dangerous condition of the existing structure and following reports from professional consultants and a visit from North Somerset Building Control.

"Four classes remain in the smaller of the old blocks, which is now also suffering from structural failure.

"The school needs to vacate these classrooms at the earliest opportunity, but there is simply no where for the children to go.

"The MultiAcademy Trust and school have a duty of care to ensure the children are safe, so are procuring four temporary classrooms on a hire basis to ensure accommodation is provided for all pupils in the school."

How the temporary structures could look (Image: NSC)

The applications says the new classrooms will be sited on a Tarmac area and will be similar in appearance to the existing blocks, but finished in a modern cladding of neutral colour.

Several trees on the site, which are suffering from ash and crown dieback, will be removed or pruned before the new classrooms are installed, the application adds.

It also says there will be no addition to the 630-pupil roll at the school as a result of the new classrooms, so no extra traffic will be brought to the area.

North Somerset Council planners will now consider the application.

For more details, and to comment on the plan, log on to www.n-somerset.gov.uk, application reference 22/P/0464/FUL.