A BRADFORD school will find out soon if it will be getting a Government grant needed to push forward with a £3.6 million expansion.

Bradford Academy in Bowling has tried twice before to get funding from the Education Funding Agency to build new facilities at the school, described as being "full to bursting," but has been turned down both times.

Staff now hope that it is third time lucky and should find out next month if the scheme work can go ahead.

The school and its principal Gareth Dawkins have been granted planing permission by Bradford Council for a new teaching block on the site, off Teasdale Street, and extension to its existing building.

An advert asking for contractors interested in delivering the project to come forward has now been published, although it advises that the scheme is dependent on the EFA grant from its Condition Improvement Fund.

The proposed new teaching block will have 11 classrooms, an IT room, science studio, drama area, Kitchen and dining area and offices. It will cost about £2,800,000. It would be built on the south side of the building, where some temporary buildings are currently situated.

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The expansion to the existing building includes a new dining area, expanded kitchen area and music room. It will cost about £800,000.

Planning applications for both buildings were approved by planning officers at Bradford Council last week, although designs for the buildings have not yet been decided.

The school, which is all-through, including secondary and primary classes, has 1,760 pupils, but this is expected to rise in the coming years, as all year groups at the primary school are not yet full.

The academy also increased the numbers of pupils it takes on each year from 180 to 230 at the request of the Council to provide much-needed school places in the area.

It was built to accommodate 1,496 pupils, and by 2019 the forecasted number of students is expected to be 1,954 students.

Liz Davies, capital project manager at the school, said the buildings were needed to house the school's rapidly expanding student population.

She said: "This is dependent on us getting the bid from the EFA. This is the third year we've applied.

"Our main issue is we are oversubscribed, we've taken additional children so at the moment we're full to bursting. We're not particularly looking to expand, just to accommodate the existing students.

"We still have two primary year groups to start at the school and we're using empty classrooms that will be for the years five and six for secondary pupils."

The planning applications were submitted to allow the project to progress as soon as possible if funding is granted as the money will need to be spent within one financial year.