A STOURPORT school which is undergoing a multi-million pound transformation is increasing admission places to help the county cope with rising pupil numbers.

Stourport High School and VIth Form Centre, which currently caters for around 1,300 students, has confirmed it will increase its Year 7 entry forms from nine to 10 in 2019.

A number of projects are being carried out at the school, in Minster Road, to cater for rising numbers and improve facilities for children. These complement works that have already been completed at the school.

The school’s senior leadership team has worked with the Severn Academies Educational Trust and Worcestershire County Council to secure more than £9.8million in grants.

New principal Lorna Deakin said: “The school has agreed to support Worcestershire County Council to fulfil its statutory responsibility to provide sufficient school places at a time of rising student numbers.

“However, increasing the school population does put extra pressure on specialist facilities such as science laboratories.

“We are delighted that the local authority has agreed to fund the building of a brand new science block with nine laboratories at a cost of £2.2 million.

“Work is currently ongoing to replace the windows and heating system at a cost of £1.5 million.

“This will allow our students to be warm in winter, provide ventilation in the summer and, with greater energy efficiency, it will save on heating costs and reduce our carbon foot print.

“Work will soon start on a new suite of mathematics and English classrooms to replace the temporary classrooms that were erected during the Wyre Forest review in 2007.

“The purpose built block will allow us to reinvest the £50,000 that we currently spend on renting the temporary structures on resources to further enhance teaching and learning across the school.

“Again the Department for Education have given us a grant of £2.2 million from their Condition Improvement Fund.”

Earlier this month, the school welcomed its sixth form students into a brand new £3.5million block, financed by a £3.5million grant from the Department for Education.

And back in 2015, a £400,000 multi-purpose sports hall was opened to boost facilities for pupils and the community in evenings, weekends and school holidays.