A £1.2million redevelopment of a Poole junior school has been approved to ensure it can accommodate an extra 120 pupils by 2018.

Hamworthy Park Junior School will have a two-storey extension with four new classrooms after Borough of Poole’s planning committee granted the council’s planning application.

There will also be a single- storey extension to the existing staff room. To make space for the extension the existing timed framed external classroom and cycle stands will be moved.

The new accommodation at the school in Ashmore Avenue will provide space for it to grow by 33 per cent. Currently there are 350 pupils aged seven to 11. It will increase from three to four forms of entry, helping meet the need for additional school places in Poole.

Cllr Phil Eades, chairman of the planning committee, said: “The application is in response to the recent rise in Poole’s number of young children requiring school places.

“The application provides some of those extra places while keeping the character and appearance of the surrounding area. The application also provides an improved travel plan, which should encourage more sustainable forms of travel, improve pedestrian and cyclists safety measures and ease congestion on Ashmore Avenue.”

Cllr Janet Walton, cabinet portfolio holder for families and young people said she welcomed the decision, which helped support the borough-wide strategy to meet the demand for key stage two places.

Hamworthy East ward councillors Charmaine Parkinson and Mike White have welcomed the development at the school, which has its own swimming pool.

“I felt the proposals were entirely appropriate and am pleased to see that the planning committee supported this view,” said Cllr White.

Cllr Parkinson said it was, “much needed to accommodate the growing numbers of children”.

Work is due to start this winter and the new buildings are due to be completed for autumn 2015.