MORE than 200 extra high school places will be created this September as education chiefs spend £15 million on building work to meet a 'desperate' need for demand.

Primary schools in Bolton where classes of more than 30 pupils are 'common' will also be expanded to take more pupils thanks to a cash injection of £4.75 million.

Schools which will take in an extra 30 pupils from September will be Canon Slade in Bradshaw, Sharples Academy, Thornleigh Salesian College in Sharples, Essa Academy in Great Lever, and Ladybridge High School.

Pupil numbers will increased by 39 at St Joseph’s RC High School, Horwich and 40 at Westhoughton High School. Each school will undergo a £2 to £3 million expansion programme to accommodate the extra numbers.

Turton School is currently undergoing a £2.5 million extension and modernisation plans to increase the numbers of pupils who go there.

More places will be created at primary schools — in Breightmet up to 70 places will be created, in Bromley Cross that figure stands at 105, in Tonge up to 201 places will be created and in Halliwell the number will be 105.

In December The Bolton News reported how hundreds of children were at risk of being left without secondary school places unless the government acted to resolve a ‘desperate situation in Bolton’.

Bolton Council estimated that there are 145 more Year Six pupils across the borough than they have high school places for from September. The shortfall is expected to more than double by 2019 and rise to 725 by 2023.

And now, say council bosses, as a result of “ongoing dialogue and petitioning of the Department for Education” they have received a one-off grant award of £5.9 million from the emergency contingency fund to help create more pupil places, as well as immediate access to £17.5 million and early access to £15.6 million funding.

Some money has already been committed. The funding is £3 million less than they had requested from the government, say education bosses.

Phil Hart, chairman of Bolton Learning Alliance and head of Westhoughton High School, said: “The Bolton group of schools welcome the expansion and welcome the investment to improve the provision for all the students.

“We want to provide school places for the young people of Bolton rather than them being forced to go outside the borough.”

He added that the local authority had worked with the Bolton Learning Alliance to investigate expanding schools, many of which are currently oversubscribed and respond to the growing demand.

Alison Burrowes, head of Thornleigh Salesian College, another popular school, said she would welcome the opportunity to offer more children a place to study there.

She said: "We have been in discussion with the local authority about the potential to expand from September, 2018. We are awaiting the final outcome of these discussions and would welcome the opportunity to offer additional places to more children confident that we would be able to provide them with a first class education."

A council spokesman said: “We have been liaising with the DfE for some time to try and access sufficient funding for our proposed school expansion programme. There is still a shortfall in funding and we will be writing to them to request further assistance. However, we are in a better position to be able to offer every child a secondary school place come national offer day in March.”

The proposals are expected to be rubber-stamped next week by council chiefs.