Go-ahead for £16m plan to expand two Cambridgeshire schools

One village school will be rebuilt and another significantly expanded, as part of a £16 million scheme to increase school places north of Cambridge.Plans approved last week by Cambridgeshire County Council would see Histon and Impington Infant and Junior Schools enlarged to full primary level, so they can provide for a total of 1,050 pupils.The junior school will remain on its current site, but expand to a two-form entry school, capable of accommodating 630 pupils ages four to 11.Simultaneously the infant school, which is currently based on New School Road, will be relocated to a larger, new greenbelt site on Buxhall Farm.It will also take pupils aged four to 11 over a two-form entry, accommodating 420 pupils.Both schools are run by the Cambridge Primary Education Trust (CPET), which also includes Hatton Park Primary School in Longstanton.Lesley Birch, executive principal of the CPET, welcomed the council’s decision.Last Tuesday the county council’s Children and Young People’s Committee voted to approve an additional £10 million capital investment for the plan, resulting in a total allocation in its capital programme of £16 million.