Mobile classroom plans approved for primary school

Plans for two mobile classrooms at a primary school in the south of the Isle of Man have been approved after an increase in pupils.

The temporary classrooms at Ballasalla School will include toilets and a cloakroom, and should be in place for September.

The planning officer who recommended the plans for approval said following nearby residential development pupil enrolment had steadily increased.

They added that the classrooms would "not be visually intrusive" and would "provide an important service to the community".

In 2017 plans were approved for the reconstruction of the Clagh Vane Estate which replaced 41 homes with 52 houses, and in 2019 plans were approved and construction began on 282 new homes in the Reayrt Mie residential development.

Both developments were cited by the planning officer as the drive behind an increase in pupil enrolment at Ballasalla School, from 95 in 2019/2020 to 143 in the current academic year and an anticipated 164 from September.

Committee member Peter Whiteway said the school had a "long history" of using mobile classrooms and questioned why residential development was allowed to take place without additional education provision.

Fellow committee member Helen Hughes said that in her experience as a teacher, mobile classrooms were "pretty nasty to teach in".

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