TWO primary schools will undergo rapid expansions under plans to tackle a chronic shortage of places in Waltham Forest.
An extra 5,576 primary places must be found in the borough by 2015, according to government estimates, but the council has only created ten new forms of entry since 2007, with nearly 2,000 pupils being taught in temporary classrooms.
St Mary's Church of England School in The Drive, Walthamstow, will relocate and treble its intake, under plans set to be approved by cabinet on Tuesday.
It will move to the former Warwick School for Boys site in Barret Road near Wood Street and offer three forms of entry at a cost of £3 million.
Hillyfield Academy in Higham Hill, Walthamstow, which is independent of the council, will expand on to the site of the former Aveling Park secondary school and double intake to six forms of entry.
The council, which recently received a £30 million from the government to address the shortage, is handing the school £2.3 million and granting it a 125-year cheap lease on the site.
The proposal must be approved by the Secretary of State for Education.
Other plans include giving The Winns, Mission Grove, and Woodside, all in Walthamstow, Davies Lane in Leytonstone and Newport School in Leyton will at least £1 million each to create more classes.
The measures will create a total of 13 new forms. Work is due to begin in September this year, but the Guardian understands hundred of children are yet to be allocated a place for the next academic year.
The government claims a rise in birth rates and immigration have caused the shortage, but a number of large developments in the borough to address a shortage of homes will push up the population.
The council's school organisation officer, Sandra Mohamed, writes: "These proposals deliver the council’s statutory obligation of providing school places to all children in the Borough and help to protect young people, who are some of the most vulnerable people in the community, by providing them a safe and secure place to attend during school hours."
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