They will appear from nowhere and land upon dozens of sites across the Bradford district.

As from September, dozens of mobile classrooms will be brought in to offer the temporary accommodation that schools across the Bradford district will need to cope with increasing pupil numbers.

As the necessary building work for the massive reorganisation in the city is delayed, the portable classrooms are seen by Bradford's education chiefs as the answer to cope with the immediate shortfall in space.

At Princeville Primary School, three mobile buildings are to be delivered to join the one already at the school in Willowfield Street.

Head teacher Peter Steele said the buildings had advantages and disadvantages.

"If you could choose, you're not going to choose to have them. But they are useful as long as they are temporary."

The main problem about the mobile classroom is the lack of that most basic provision - water.

Youngsters who want to go to the toilet have to cross, unaccompanied, to the toilets in the main block in all weathers.

Water is used in most areas of the national curriculum. "We use water for things like science, art and design technology. Usually, if we need water, the teachers carry it over in buckets."

If the new classrooms are to be joined with the existing 'temporary' ones, Mr Steele says he will insist that toilet blocks are provided.

The room on site at the moment is bright and airy. The cold day outside is not reflected inside - if anything, the room is a little too warm. Soundproofing is good. Unlike the rest of the school, the floor is carpeted.

Class 8A, mainly nine and ten-year-olds, and their teacher Margaret Askham have decorated it with colourful and informative posters.

But the children are not universally in favour of their classroom.

"It's too far away from the rest of the school," said ten-year-old Gulan Shuheb. "I had to go to the toilet in school the other day and it was very windy and cold."

Cally Doherty, nine, likes her classroom: "It's better than being in the school because you can't hear other people all the time."

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