School to expand capacity by 105 with extension (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Overton Primary School scheme approved

2:00pm Sunday 5th February 2012 in Local By Emily Roberts, Chief Reporter

A PRIMARY school will be extended to provide space for 105 extra pupils as part of a £613,000 project.

As previously reported in The Gazette, the funding to pay for the extension at Overton Primary School was given the go-ahead by Hampshire County Council on December 7, 2011.

Yesterday, Councillor Roy Perry, the executive lead member for children’s services at the county council, was set to approve the detailed proposals at his decision day meeting.

A report for Cllr Perry reveals that the project will include a new, two-storey library and IT suite, plus a standalone pre-school building and multi-use building.

The report says the new library will enable the “reprovision of the existing library and IT facilities and the reinstatement of two existing classrooms in which these facilities are currently located.”

The pre-school is currently in a classroom in the main school building.

The primary school, in Court Drove, Overton, has 285 pupils on roll, with the capacity to accommodate 315.

The plans will increase pupil capacity by 105, to create a two-form entry school, in which there are two classes for each year group.

It is proposed to infill an existing under-utilised courtyard that is in the centre of the main school building, to create the library and IT suite.

Work is expected to begin in June this year, and finish by October, 2012, with the primary school remaining in use during the work.

Planning permission for the library and IT suite was granted in May 2011, and a planning application for the new pre-school and extended schools building was submitted to the council in January this year.