A PROPOSAL to expand a Kent grammar school have been scuppered. The proposals to enlarge Chatham Grammar School for Boys were submitted to the Office of the Schools Adjudicator several months ago.

But adjudicator Andrew Collier has rejected the idea, leaving school staff and governors angry and disappointed. Conservatives on Medway Council, which had carried out a detailed consultation process, lobbied their national party leader Iain Duncan Smith about the matter when he visited Medway last weekend. Mr Duncan Smith pledged to ask a question in the House of Commons about the decision to block the school's expansion plans.

A spokesman for the office said the adjudicator had considered very carefully the current pressures on accommodation at the school. He said the issues of the cost of the proposals and the availability of secondary school places within three miles of the school were examined.

The spokesman added: "It was decided that there needed to be considerably more evidence of support for the proposals from parents of pupils currently at primary schools who will be transferring to secondary schools over the nest few years."

Head teacher David Marshall said: "The governing body is extremely disappointed with the adjudicator's decision, especially as the school is the size of five forms of entry. We are the most popular of the boys' schools, but the proposal was one that had cross-party support."

The adjudicator's decision itself cannot be contested, but Mr Marshall said the way in which the decision was made can be disputed. With the extra premises, the school would have been able to admit an extra 30 pupils bringing the total up to just under 1,000.

Mr Marshall added: "Here we are being told we cannot be a school of five forms of entry, when we already are. I am disappointed for the parents and the youngsters out there."