£2.8 million expansion plan for Earls Barton Primary School approved

A £2.8 million school expansion plan for a village’s primary school has been approved by councillors.

Demand at Earls Barton Primary School, in Earls Barton, has increased since two developers built about 300 new homes.

The project will link the school’s infant and junior buildings and two mobile classrooms will be replaced by permanent ones.

Money from Redrow and David Wilson Homes will pay for the work, along with other funding from the Department for Education.

Work is expected to start in February 2024 and finish a year later. It will also move and expand the school’s car park.

Currently 75 children can be accepted into the school in one year group, but the work could potentially see that increase to 90.

About 460 pupils currently attend the school.

The new homes which have led to increased demand for school places in the area have been built at Redrow’s Barley Fields and David Wilson Homes’ The Wickets developments in Earls Barton over recent years.

Other work at the school will build a new Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) air conditioning plant to serve its buildings.

North Northamptonshire Council’s (NNC) cabinet, which approved the project on Thursday last week, was told it will cut the school’s carbon footprint and remove its reliance on gas.

Leader of North Northants Council, Cllr Jason Smithers, said the work was ‘absolutely fantastic’ and showed that the authority is providing schools with ‘continuous investment’.