A spike in the number of pupils expected to begin at Sutton Primary School in September has forced Cambridgeshire County Council to install temporary classrooms.

The county council has applied for planning permission to bring in a seven-bay portable classroom building to account for what it describes as a “bulge” in the number of pupils admitted to reception.

The school currently has 317 pupils but the September intake is expected to raise that total to 345, taking the school above its limit and brining about the need for two additional classrooms.

But the council says that this year’s intake is exceptional and that numbers are expected to return to normal by 2021, when the temporary classrooms will be removed.

In its application, the county council said: “The available data suggests that the number of students on roll will exceed the school’s permanent capacity whist the

‘bulge’ year admission this year works through the school.

“As the number on roll is expected to drop below the permanent capacity at the end of this period there is no indication that a permanent extension to the school is required and that the proposed mobile classroom will be removed from the school site in August 2021.”

The modular classrooms, which are four years old, will be craned into place on the school site and will provide an additional 187sq m of floor space.

A decision on the plans is expected within the next eight weeks. To view the plans, or to have a say, visit www.eastcambs.gov.uk