A PRIMARY school has celebrated the completion of a major expansion, as a town undergoes a significant expansion in its population.

Le Cateau Community Primary School in Catterick Garrison recently held an opening ceremony to celebrate the addition of a new teaching block of three classrooms, a new hall – double the size of its previous one – a new library and meeting rooms.

The additional facilities at Le Cateau are among measures to meet expected demand for extra school places as a result of the growth of the garrison. The new classrooms will be able to accommodate up to a further 84 children over time, which would see the current capacity of 425 pupils rise to 509.

Ian Mottram, headteacher at Le Cateau, said: “The new teaching block is amazing. It’s a fresh, vibrant learning space with lots of daylight, but it is also a calm place for the children.

“It’s certainly meeting the needs of the Year Six children who are using it. It is almost an interim step for them from primary to secondary school.

“The new hall has allowed us to get everyone in for lunch together, rather than having two sittings, and to return to having whole school assemblies. The whole building itself is now modern and purposeful. We are now ready for the increase in numbers. We have the infrastructure in place.”

The £1.8m project took two years from design to completion and was funded by the Department for Education’s basic needs fund, along with contributions from developers.

Other local schools are also being expanded with new classrooms and an entirely new school is expected to be built next year on the former Darlington College site in Catterick Garrison.

County Councillor Patrick Mulligan, executive member for Education and Skills, said: “The expansion of Le Cateau Community Primary School is part of our response to the expected growth of Catterick Garrison and future housing development in the area as part of the Richmondshire Local Plan. Le Cateau is at the heart of this expansion.

“Other measures to meet this increasing demand include creation of an additional two classrooms at Colburn Community Primary School, increasing capacity by 60 places, and one extra classroom at Hipswell CE Primary School, increasing capacity by 30 places. In the longer term, a new primary school will be built on the Darlington College site.

"This is expected to be in 2019 and the school, to be known as Cambria Community Primary, will be an academy.”