Construction on the new £3.35 million expansion of Mellers Primary School has started.
Work on the Radford school started on Monday (5 September) and will see places increase from 210 to 420 to meet increasing demand in the area.
The plans include eight new classrooms and a hall. The nursery is also expanding from 26 to 52 places. The new facilities will open to pupils in September 2017.
As part of the Council’s expansion plan, thousands of school places have been created in the city, thanks to £41.9 million investment from Nottingham City Council.
The primary school expansion programme means the council will have created more than 4,000 additional primary school places since 2009, once all year groups are full.
Amanda Dawson, Headteacher at Mellers Primary School, said: “This is such an exciting time for us as a school and as a community. We’ve worked hard to plan a building that will be fit for purpose into the future, and will enhance our community further.
“We are a very popular school in the area and we are very heavily oversubscribed, which means that each year many of our parents and families are disappointed as they don’t get the school place they wanted at Mellers. We’re very pleased to be able to offer double the number of school places from September 2017, as this will enable our parents’ school choices to be accommodated.”
Further areas of the City will benefit from the expansion programme. By the end of the year, new places for children will have been created at schools in Bilborough, Wollaton, Aspley and Clifton.
Councillor Sam Webster, Portfolio Holder for Education, Employment and Skills, said: “The start of work at Mellers Primary School is another exciting step in our school expansion programme. We are investing in our schools because we know there is a demand for places and parents want their children to go to an Ofsted-rated ‘Good’ or ‘Outstanding’ school.
“Our work and investment means that we have enough primary school places to meet the current and future demand. This year we were able to offer every Nottingham child a school place, with more than 92% of children being offered a place at their first or second-choice primary school, that is up 2% on last year.
“Expansion projects like Mellers Primary mean we can ensure every child has a place in the years to come. Families in Nottingham want good schools, with places available, close to home.”
Work has been ongoing to increase capacity at primary schools across the City, with most of the work already finished.
The most recently-completed project was the opening of the new £5.3m Heathfield Primary School last October. The school in Basford was split into two sites creating an additional 420 places, plus 52 nursery places.
The next project is at Nottingham Academy, which will officially open at the end of September and see pupil places increase by 420 places.