A COUNCILLOR has called for a village school to extended over the summer holidays amid concerns about the number of children who were unable to get a place for September.

Councillor Doris Jones, ward member for Middleton St George, near Darlington, has been campaigning for an extension for St George's Primary School after 72 children applied for 49 available places.

Coun Jones held a meeting this week to discuss the matter with teachers and governors at St George’s, which recently achieved academy status.

Darlington Borough Council has been given more than £4m to create extra school places across the town, which will be allocated to schools according to need later this year.

Three primary schools, including Heathfield Primary School, in The Broadway, where many of the children who could not get into St George’s will attend, were given emergency funding for immediate improvements.

Coun Jones has argued that St George’s should bid for emergency funding to extend the school over summer, but Ann Williams, chairman of governors at St George’s, said the school had not been given the opportunity to bid for any funding.

Coun Jones said: “I will campaign for a new classroom to be added to St George’s over the summer holidays so children will not be shut out.

“We want to see a school big enough for all the children in the village to be able to go there. The authorities have known about this situation for a couple of years and they need to get something done about it.

Coun Jones has also arranged a petition calling for the school to be extended, which has more than 1,000 signatures.

Mrs Williams said: “We are all very concerned, we know we are oversubscribed.

“The funding that Councillor Jones is talking about was never available to St George’s - we were never asked to apply for any money.

“There is nothing we can do before the summer. If the council came along and said they had some money available for us we would do everything we could, but it’s not going to happen this year.”

A spokeswoman for Darlington Borough Council said: "The council will work with all schools in the borough on a review of the anticipated demand for school places over the coming years.

"St George's is supportive of this review and will work with the council."