Children to learn on a building site; New school will be built around pupils.

Byline: By Graeme Whitf ield

CHILDREN at one of the region's most cramped schools will have to remain on site while a new school is built around them.

Plans for new buildings at West Jesmond Primary School in Newcastle are set to be approved this week, despite opposition from some parents.

Those parents are now more angry after being told that plans to de-cant children to a different site while the school is being built have been scrapped because they are too expensive.

West Jesmond is already one of the most cramped schools in the region, with around 620 pupils on a small site.

But plans to move children to mobile classrooms in either Jesmond or Heaton have had to be abandoned because they will add pounds 1 m to the project.

Parents say they cannot understand how children will be able to learn while a massive building project goes on around them.

Damian Bell, whose five-year-old daughter Emily is a pupil at the school, said: "We're disappointed that the Victorian building will be ripped down, but a lot of parents are resigned to that. Now we're more worried about the de-cant arrangements because we're still not quite sure how they're going to do it.

"Parents are angry that they've left the decision on this so late in the day. It's only five months until they start knocking the school d ow n.

"There are huge health and safety issues to be overcome and it looks like they'll lose all the outside play area because that's the only place to put mobiles."

Plans for a new school are being recommended for approval when they are considered by Newcastle City Council's development control committee on Friday.

The committee received objections from 31 local families who said the plans did not fit in with the Victorian character of the area and complained about car parking.

Parents have now been told that a feasibility study has ruled out moving children to either Heaton or Jesmond while the building takes place because that would cost pounds 1m.

Nobody was available for comment at the school yesterday.

A meeting for parents will take place on November 2 to update them on the progress of the project.

A Newcastle City Council spokesman said: "We will do whatever we can to keep disruption to a minimum while the building project is happening."