FOUR Craven schools will be literally growing in size over the coming months thanks to the announcement of funding for new classrooms.

Settle High School and Community College has been awarded £500,000 to provide facilities to cater for its rapidly increasing number of pupils.

Headteacher Trevor Wear said the school was currently at 113 per cent capacity and the number of students looked set to rise by 100 over the next three or four years.

He hoped the money could be spent on an area for the A-level pupils and constructing a new block of classrooms.

"The build will centre around the creation of a sixth form study area and general improvements in study facilities," he said.

Part of the money will be spent on replacing the school's 34-year-old temporary classroom.

The cash has come from the Government's New Deal for Schools' capital programme through which North Yorkshire County Council was allocated more than £6.6 million.

Aireville School in Skipton has also been prioritised for some of the money so that its temporary classrooms can be replaced.

Headteacher David Croll said the school had been asking for some time to have the two units replaced and was delighted that North Yorkshire had finally responded. He added that the 25-year-old English and RE classrooms were in a poor state.

"The maintenance costs have been very, very high and economically it clearly makes sense to replace them," said Mr Croll.

The work should be carried out over the next two years and the headteacher hopes this will be the beginning of a larger expansion project to accommodate the increasing number of pupils in a new block of permanent classrooms.

Also this week the Government announced a £175 million allocation for new infant classrooms and teachers to support the pledge to reduce infant class sizes. Included in the shortlist is Embsay School which will receive £105,000.

Headteacher Joseph Grose said the school would now be able to accommodate children and staff in more comfortable conditions. The school plans to build one or two classrooms and staff them, depending on how much extra money the school can raise itself.

Since Mr Grose joined the school 20 years ago the pupil population has grown by 20 and as the classrooms were only small movement around them was restricted, and storage space tight.

Kildwick Church of England School will receive £66,000 towards the construction of a purpose-built reception class. The current reception group is working from the library which meant it could not be available to older children at all times.

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