A Peterborough school will display plans for an additional school site and new building to parents and the local community tomorrow, 30 April, at a public exhibition.

Gladstone Primary School is set to increase the number of pupils it teaches from 450 to 840 from September 2014. Proposals are now in place to open a second Gladstone Primary site next to the Gladstone Community Centre, located off Bourges Boulevard.

The new building would teach all the school's Key Stage 2 pupils (Years 3 to 6), while the current site would teach Key Stage 1 pupils (Reception, Years 1 to 2) as well as provide provision for a children's centre. By splitting the school over two sites pupil numbers will increase by almost 400 as well as improving facilities available to the public.

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The city council has allocated £42 million to build additional school places over the next 12 months, in order to create 8,000 new places over the next eight years.

The project will also see the school use part of Gladstone Community Centre on a daily basis for sports and for their dining room. The main hall will be divided in half so it can also be open to the public throughout the day as normal.

Improvements will be made to the community centre including a new kitchen, a shared reception and the construction of a new 3G sports pitch for the use of the school and the public. The school also plans to use the Veranda building, also located on the Bourges Boulevard site, with the children's centre (including the pre-school) being relocated to the current Gladstone Primary building.

The project will cost £7 million and the new Key Stage 2 building will be open to pupils from September 2014, with improvements to Gladstone Community Centre completed by the same time.

The school was rated as good in all areas in a recent Ofsted report, and after it came to light that all of the current pupils speak English as a second language the school achieved nationwide media coverage including an appearance on the BBC's One Show.

(CD)