THE plight of children studying in overcrowded classrooms in a village school in Pendle has been brought to the attention of Education Secretary David Blunkett.

Pendle MP Gordon Prentice has written to the Minister highlighting the lack of space at Salterforth Primary School, near Barnoldswick, after meeting concerned parents, staff and governors.

Mr Prentice has backed a new bid by the school, which he said is "bursting at the seams", for extra classrooms.

In a letter to Mr Blunkett the MP wrote: "As you will know Salterforth Primary School was inspected by Ofsted in October last year and received a very positive report. This reinforces my impressions of the school which is well run and managed and acts as a focus for the local community.

"Unfortunately there is the most dreadful overcrowding and this was specifically picked up by the inspectors in their report. "Because the children are literally on top of each other it is very difficult to do creative work and to keep the children concentrating on the task at hand. Children are crammed into tiny classrooms and have to stream past other children at work in the main hall, which doubles as another classroom, to get to the toilet."

Head John Kelly said the hall roof was high enough to accommodate a new mezzanine floor that would go a long way towards solving the accommodation problems. A new floor part way across the hall providing enough space for one new classroom would cost around £25,000 while a complete new floor would be around £40,000.

"A couple of new classrooms would suit us admirably," he explained. "We feel this needs to be done by the end of August for everyone's sake. The arrangements at the moment are not suitable and they put extra pressure on the children and staff and parents are worried about the situation."

Mr Kelly said tenders had gone out to contractors for a new mezzanine floor and the education authority was fully aware of the problem. "We're just waiting for any help that might come our way," he added.

The school has been trying to get cash for extra accommodation since 1993. The PTA launched its own fund-raising campaign 18 months ago which has raised £17,000.

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