BOSSES at a village primary school are hoping to build two new classrooms to deal with increasing demand for places.

St Paul’s Primary School in Hoddlesden has submitted plans to increase its number of classrooms to seven.

The headteacher of the Baynes Street school, Bernie Bickerton, said the school was hitting capacity every year after its popularity increased.

Mrs Bickerton said: “As a school we have grown in popularity in the last few years and are now filing our admission number of 28 each year.

“To accommodate the growing class sizes we now need seven class rooms as we currently only have five permanent classrooms and a temporary classroom. “Our school has been judged outstanding by Ofsted and SIAMS inspections (Church school inspections) and the diocese recognises that to be able to continue to provide that level of education for children in Hoddlesden and the surrounding area we need to have an additional classroom.

“The diocese is supporting us with funding for the proposed expansion.”

East Rural councillor Julie Slater, who sits on the board of governers, said the expansion was crucial.

She said: “They got outstanding from Ofsted and the diocese and they really do need the extra room.

“A few years ago when the school wasn’t doing as well, we extended the boundary of where we accepted pupils from.

“Now Bernie has come in and done such a good job, more and more youngsters want to come here so it is full to bursting.

“We are a victim of our own success really, but we don’t want to turn children away.”