Popular Sheffield school creates mobile classroom for extra pupils

Dore Primary School will open the unit in September to accommodate what Sheffield Council calls a “single bulge year group”.

The £300,000 unit will create capacity for an additional class of 30 pupils and will be in place for the next seven years to take that class through primary school from reception to year 6.

In a report, officers say: “The single mobile classroom will be erected on the junior playground and by successfully working to tight deadlines, this option could be implemented by September. It will provide the places required to meet the catchment demand.”

Officers looked at whether the school could accommodate the extra year group without the unit but said not.

“Since September 2020, the school has created a 26 place pre-school, using a spare classroom to deliver a nurture unit.

“This space would have only been suitable for the infant phase. When the bulge year moves into juniors, the classroom would be isolated from the rest of the juniors given its location on the infant site.

“Therefore, the school is not in a position to accommodate a bulge year without physical expansion.

“Refurbishing a caretaker’s building was proposed by the school in an initial planning phase and reviewed by council officers, who confirmed it’s unsuitable due to insufficient size, over two storeys, located at the end of the drive, with access to playground via a car park.”