East Lothian Council has lodged plans to build four new classrooms to meet demand for spaces in a primary school opened just five years ago.
Letham Mains Primary School opened in 2021 with capacity for 421 children to attend it in the town of Haddington.
Initially it had a roll of just 32 children when it opened its doors in the middle of a new housing estate on the edge of the town but five years on the council says it needs to expand further with an estimated £2million cost to meet current and future demand.
The school currently has 337 pupils in primary one to seven with 108 children in its early year spaces.
The new classrooms will allow it to deal with an expected increase of primary pupil numbers to 456 in the next four years.
The school itself was fully funded by developer contributions as more than 1,000 new homes were given planning permission in the area over the last decade.
The council said when Letham Mains Primary School was built additional outdoor space was ‘future proofed’ for expansion with the new plans including classrooms, an increased dining space and additional facilities..
Councillor Fiona Dugdale, cabinet member for education, said a phased expansion had been necessary to ensure the costs were covered by developer contributions.
She said: “Had we built a school in anticipation of future growth, not only would the additional space have had to be financed from our council funds, we would also have no recourse to now return to the developers for an increased contribution.
“It would also have been a risk to build a larger school than required at the time.
“Instead, our teams purposely designed a school with a layout and external space that could accommodate expansion. This phased approach future-proofed the building while leaving us able to secure further financial contributions to make sure that facilities needed due to development are paid for by developers.”
Work on the expansion, if approved, is expected to begin next summer with plans to complete it by the start of the new 2028/2029 school years.
By Marie Sharp Local Democracy Reporter
