A SECONDARY school is so tight for space it has applied to put up eight temporary classrooms on its grounds.

Shoeburyness High School says it needs the extra space to accommodate more apprenticeship courses from September.

These include hospitality and sport apprenticeships which run for two days each week for pupils at the school, as well as pupils from Chase High School in Southend.

Deputy headteacher Huw Williams spoke of the growing popularity of the school and said the new classrooms would be used during the day and in the evening.

He added: “We are looking for ways to help take the pressure off and free up some space. We feel these new classrooms will be ideal to be used for the apprenticeship courses.

“We are planning to offer a wider range of apprenticeship courses in September, so we need to accommodate the extra pupils.”

Four existing temporary classrooms were put up two years ago, but Mr Williams said demand has grown further.

He added: “We tailor our courses to meet the needs of the pupils and a lot of pupils have already signed up for the courses next year. We also provide evening classes, so these new classrooms would serve a lot of different purposes.”

The new classrooms would be air-conditioned and, if approved by Southend Council, building work would take place this summer holiday. A decision is expected by the end of July.