EVERY primary school-age child living on Europe's largest housing estate has been guaranteed a place at a local school.
Plans for a new £5.5m primary school at Ingleby Barwick have been announced by Stockton Borough Council.
The new school, which will provide an extra 630 places on a site in Low Lane, is expected to open in September 2005.
At present, not every child of primary school age in Ingleby Barwick is able to obtain a place in a local school.
Numbers are likely to increase as a further 2,500 houses are planned in the area over the next ten years.
Two long-established schools on the estate, Whinstone Primary and Ingleby Mill, have had to expand beyond their original capacity.
Between them, the schools have more than 200 children being taught in temporary classrooms.
The new school will allow the classrooms to be removed so pupils and staff can work in the best possible environment. Funding has been approved by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).
Councillor Alex Cunningham, the council's cabinet member for education, leisure and cultural services, said: "This is tremendous news for Ingleby Barwick and the borough as a whole.
"Together with the new places at St Francis of Assisi, which opened earlier this year, and the new Myton Park Primary School, scheduled to open in September, we will ensure that every primary school-age child in Ingleby Barwick can have a place in a local school.
"The Government is providing £5.5m because it has recognised the need for primary places."
Coun Cunningham added: "The Low Lane site is the last available piece of land suitable for a new school in the area.
"It will be our last chance to meet the long-term need for primary school places in Ingleby Barwick."
A spokeswoman for the council said that more details about the new school would be announced shortly.
She added that there would then be full consultation with parents, school staff, governors and residents of Ingleby Barwick.
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