A village primary school is to be expanded to cater for the growing number of children in the area.

Coxheath, near Maidstone, has seen its number of pre-school aged youngsters increase significantly from 510 in 2020, to 730 last year.

Kent County Council (KCC) says without an expansion of the two-form entry Coxheath Primary School, they will not find a school place nearby.

Currently, Coxheath primary has 241 pupils and there are four buildings.

Two are the school’s main classroom blocks dating from the late 1970s and one is a modular overspill temporary classroom block.

The fourth is a building used by the Harlequins after-school and breakfast club, which is unaffected by the proposals.

KCC intends to turn the school into a three-form entry within two years by adding a new two-storey building.

On its ground floor, there will be three reception classrooms, with moveable partition walls to create one large space if needed.

There will also be a medical room and two group rooms on this floor.

On the first floor, there will be three infant classrooms and one general classroom, along with a staff room, office space and group room.

An extra 14 staff will be needed at the school, and to accommodate them, there will be a new, additional staff car park, with 15 spaces, with an entry off Heath Road.

Currently, the only access to the school is via Stockett Lane but that will remain the main way in and out.

The new parking and access arrangement will be for staff and emergency vehicles only and will not be for use by pupils, parents or visitors.

However, a new pedestrian access is proposed, linking in with Coxheath Library, which KCC says, will encourage more families to walk their children to school instead of using their cars.

At present, the school has two grass playing fields and two hard-surface playgrounds.

One of the grassed fields, currently used for rounders, will be replaced with an all-weather surface pitch - which could still be used for rounders but also for other sports.

While the new block is being built, the increase in pupil numbers will be accommodated in pre-fabricated modular classrooms.

Details of the plans can be found on the KCC website here.

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The new school will be built by Baxall Construction Ltd.