Dudley Council’s ruling cabinet will hear at a meeting later this month of plans to create an extra 300 places for pupils at both The Wordsley School and Crestwood in Kingswinford.

It is to meet projected growth rates in the areas around the schools by 2020. The plans will also see temporary mobile classrooms at Crestwood from September to meet demand while building works are ongoing.

Consultations have been carried out with residents living near the schools, and council bosses are now moving forwards with bid for planning permission and drawing up designs for the expansions. Councillor Ruth Buttery, cabinet member for children and young people, said:

"It is really important that we provide access to quality education to all our children and young people, wherever they live in the borough. By working closely with our planning team and academies we can accurately predict when and where provision is needed and put measures in place accordingly.

"That could be reducing numbers where there’s no longer a need or - as in this case - increasing places where there is demand, either on a temporary basis or investing for long term growth.

"We will continue to closely monitor numbers for both primary and secondary school places and processes are in place to recommend investment to address any projected growth."

Meanwhile, the cabinet will hear at the meeting that work has started, and is progressing well, on the rebuilding of a new block at Huntingtree Primary School in Halesowen. The council received a grant of more than £2.5 million from the Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) for the work.