A secondary school in Stevenage has submitted plans to the local authority to expand.

Barnwell Middle School in Shephall Green is proposing to install a modular building to create three classrooms and an office, and has submitted a planning application to Stevenage Borough Council.

The school has been asked by Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) to accept an additional 30 pupils from September, in order to manage the current growth in secondary school-aged students in Stevenage.

This will mean the school will exceed its Published Admissions Number of 240 students in the Year 7 intake for September. 

A planning statement accompanying the application explains: "The additional students will add pressure to the capacity for teaching spaces at Barnwell Middle School, and as such the school has agreed with HCC that the local authority will fund the provision of an additional modular class space to be located on the middle school campus.

"Although the anticipated growth in student numbers is expected to be short-term, the additional space will also add capacity for the increasing complex needs of students in the school, particularly post Covid, which has seen a steady increase in a need for pastoral support and a necessity for small group interventions to encourage student attendance and wellbeing."