Portsmouth infant school is to get a fresh, new layout

Moorings Way Infant School in Milton is to be transformed thanks to the money from Portsmouth City Council.

Headteacher Sonia Nickerson said she was delighted about the plans, which will see the school’s open-plan layout split into separate classrooms.

Ms Nickerson said: ‘This is really great news for us.

‘At the moment we’ve got six classrooms in the base, which is great in some ways but it makes it difficult in others.

‘For example, if one child is being particularly noisy it carries through the whole base. Having split classrooms will be much more conducive to good learning and it will mean we will be more flexible as well – if one class wants to do something musical the others don’t have to.’

Ms Nickerson said the funding came on top of a recent ‘good’ rating from education watchdog Ofsted, which she was thrilled with.

‘It’s a bit of a double whammy for us,’ she said. ‘It’s exciting times at the school’.

Cabinet member for children and education, Councillor Neill Young, said: ‘This is great news for the school and it will go a long way towards improving the learning space there.

‘The challenge has always been that the learning space is one room. It’s a bit of a hangover from the 1970s when they thought that was a good idea but the world has moved on from that now.

‘Having that space split into classrooms will improve the children’s learning.’

Moorings Way has 130 pupils in Years R to 2.

Ms Nickerson said the works mean the school would be able to accommodate five more pupils in each year level.

Cllr Young said he expected the upgrade would take place over the summer holidays.

He said: ‘As an administration we’ve made education a top priority.’