Almost £30m to be spent on Dagenham school expansion

Almost £30m is set to be spent on doubling a school’s pupil capacity.

Robert Clack School of Science in Dagenham will take on a third site just north of its existing Green Lane location to meet the demand from families moving into the nearby Lymington Fields development.

Councillors approved spending £28.75m to enlarge the school from ten to 18 forms of entry plus three forms of primary age pupils at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, increasing its capacity from 1,500 pupils to 3,330.

They agreed that expanding Robert Clack was a better solution than creating a new free school.

Cllr Evelyn Carpenter, cabinet member for educational attainment and school improvement, said: “The timeframe for free schools can often be very elongated and this enables us a speedier solution to our school places need.”

Cllr Bill Turner said the decision was a “positive” one.