A SCHOOL is to receive nearly £2 million to allow it to expand.

Fairfield Park Lower School is due to receive £1.95 million worth of funding to enable it to build new classrooms and improve facilties.

The school currently supports 214 pupils and the work will allow the school to increase its intake to 300.

Work is scheduled to begin in the school holidays and should be fully completed by April 2014, although phases of the build will be handed back to the school earlier, to help minimise the impact on the day-to-day running of the school.

Cllr Mark Versallion, Central Bedfordshire Council’s executive member for children’s services, said: “The proposed works at Fairfield Park Lower School are to enable the school to cater for up to 300 pupils in permanent buildings. They include building new classrooms and support spaces, some alterations to the existing building and some external work to create new outdoor areas and playgrounds.

“These works are part of our wider New School Places programme, which will see us invest £100 million over the next five years. This is a really important piece of work for us and at the heart of it is a commitment to do everything we can to help our children and young people reach their potential, both academically and in terms of their personal development.”