APRIMARY school which has won its ten-year battle for expansion has ambitious new plans to become a community leisure centre.

A new assembly and sports hall in the grounds of Lee Chapel Primary School, in The Knares, Basildon, will be home to two badminton courts and remain open in the evenings for public use.

It will also be spacious enough to fit all 630 pupils in during assembly time.

There are also ambitious plans in the pipeline to build a swimming pool at the school which would also be open to the public.

The school has 508 pupils, but is so overcrowded the staff room and even a space under the stairs are used to teach children.

Basildon Council has finally given the go-ahead for work to start transforming the former Lee Chapel Infant School, which is used as offices by Essex County Council, back into classrooms.

A new planning application has now gone in for the new hall and if given the go-ahead, work will start soon.

The overhaul of the former infant school will begin on April 1, once the offices have been vacated.

Headteacher Sue Jackson, who led the ten-year fight for expansion, said: “This is a community school and the fact we have become an academy doesn’t change that.

“We are here to serve the community of Lee Chapel South and we want our new hall to be used as much as possible.

“There are a lot of hours after school where it will be empty, so we want to encourage parents to come back to play basketball, badminton or whatever else we have going on.

“It is a very exciting time for the school.”

Mrs Jackson revealed the swimming pool is next on the wish list for pupils.

The children have launched a fundraising campaign, including cake sales and an enterprise week, to pay towards the pool, which would be open out of school hours for the public.

Mrs Jackson added: “We have left a space in the grounds especially for a swimming pool, so it’s certainly something we’re determined to add in the future.

“I know we have the Basildon Sporting Village, which is brilliant, but it must help to have another facility which is within walking distance for residents in Lee Chapel South.

“As our fight for the expansion shows, we are determined and will not give up.”