THE future of education at an Andover independent school is at risk if permission is not granted to continue using two temporary classrooms.

An application has been submitted to Test Valley Borough Council from Rookwood School, in Weyhill Road, seeking approval to continue using the temporary classrooms to provide additional space for various activities.

A letter sent to the council from the school’s bursar states that without this extra space the functionality of the school is at risk of “degrading”, with staff and resources becoming “overstretched”.

It added: “Without any of these temporary classrooms the school would not be able to offer the education or facilities it currently does and the contribution the school offers to local education will be greatly reduced.”

In September last year, the school increased its nursery provision to include two-year-olds, but as a result the nursery has now reached capacity and is operating a waiting list. The temporary buildings support provision of various nursery curriculum such as dance and drama.

In June this year, the school governors agreed to launch a sixth form, due to open in September 2021, making it the only ‘all-through’ independent school in Andover.

However, the bursar said the sixth form will result in the introduction of 10 new subjects, with the temporary buildings needed to accommodate these.

The letter said: “In simple terms, if permission for the temporary classrooms is not granted there is no other space for these, and other, activities to take place, the functionality of the school would start to degrade and staff and resources would be overstretched within a greatly restricted and limited space.

“In particular, the new sixth form, which will be a fantastic provision for both pupils and the school, will place pressure on the existing estate and without these temporary buildings will make it particularly difficult to resource which will be a great shame.”

The application said the school also has no classroom allocated for SEN (special educational needs); there are full-time teaching staff who don’t have their own classroom, and are therefore unable to display pupils’ work; and staffroom provision is limited.