THE head teacher of Ilkley Grammar School says she is "delighted" councillors are considering investing £4.7million to expand the school to cope with rising demand for secondary school places in the Wharfe Valley.

Forecasts show Ilkley Grammar School could have a shortfall of 118 places by 2020. The proposed expansion would allow the school to increase its intake of students from 261 to 300 a year from September 2018. The school currently has capacity for 1,558 pupils, including its sixth form provision.

A consultation was carried out between September 14 and October 12 on the expansion plans and at its meeting on October 17 IGS governors decided to seek the Secretary of State's approval to proceed with the expansion of the school subject to funds being made available. Councillors will now be asked to approve the funding at a meeting of the Executive on Tuesday (December 6).

IGS head teacher Helen Williams said: "IGS is delighted that BMDC are considering a major capital investment to our existing site. Having consulted earlier this term about the possibility of expanding our Year 7 intake to 300 from 2018, we are hopeful that this capital investment will be approved by the council in order to allow us to go ahead with this. The funding will mean that IGS can redesign, expand and improve its site and will thereby enable us to continue to educate and serve the children and families of the Wharfe Valley into the future. No changes have been made to the school’s current admissions criteria."

The move would be part of the Bradford authority’s on-going work to ensure sufficient school places are available across the district for pupils of all ages. The authority has created an extra 8,500 primary school places since 2010 and is now focusing on secondary schools in areas expecting to face the most pressure for places in the next few years.

Councillor Imran Khan, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Education, Employment and Skills said: “These latest proposals demonstrate our commitment to ensure we provide enough school places wherever they are needed across the district.

“We want to see all pupils across Bradford attend a school that is good or better. An important part of this goal is ensuring that our schools are in a position to meet the demand for places in the areas that they serve.”

The expansion work is possible because Bradford Council has secured £23.8m from the Government's Basic Need Funding to provide extra school places from 2018/19.

Local councils are not able to open their own schools as Government policy states that all new state-funded schools should be academies or free schools.

Bradford Council currently carrying out a consultation on the possible expansion of Ilkley All Saints Primary. The Executive could be asked to approve this at a future date depending on the outcome of the consultation.