Plans to add an extension to a Kirkcaldy high school to help ease over crowding have been given the green light.

Fife Council has approved its own planning application for a new single storey addition to Viewforth High School’s Windmill Community Campus. It will be added to to the north wing of the existing school to accommodate enhanced support provision.

There will also be remodelling of the existing school in the Support for Learning area to provide additional teaching space.

Construction could begin in October with works complete in June next year.

An artist's impression of what the extension at Viewforth High in Kirkcaldy could look like

placeholder image — An artist's impression of what the extension at Viewforth High in Kirkcaldy could look like

The extension aims to increase capacity at the high school, where the school roll is already over subscribed. It is said completion of the work will increase capacity from 600 to 750 pupils.

Councillors on the Cabinet committee have already agreed to extend the ground floor of the campus to create new flexible learning spaces, an outdoor garden and new toilets last year.

A report which went before the committee earlier this year, said the expansion would create more capacity and was seen as the best way to meet the needs of all learners.

Councillors chose the expansion from three options put before them in a bid to ease the over-crowding pressures - and the planning application reflects this position.

Viewforth High School's Windmill campus in Kirkcaldy (Pic: Fife Council)

A supporting statement said: “The proposal includes additional learning spaces to accommodate an increased pupil roll due to the housing developments in the area.

"This includes additional toilets and flexible retreat spaces that would enhance the experience for some of the vulnerable pupils and benefit the staff within this provision.”

The application states the proposed extension will be “a single-storey construction, consisting of a simple rectangular form similar materiality design principles to the existing building, blending in subtlety with the surrounding context.”

The extension will be designed within the council’s budget constraints and “provide a new modern 21st century multi-user additional space for the pupils and teachers of Viewforth High School”.

The campus opened in 2016 and has a school roll over capacity with numbers likely to rise further if more housing developments are approved in the area.

The expansion is expected to cost £4.4 million, much of which would be met by developers at Loughborough Road and Kingdom Park who signed legal agreements as a condition of their planning approvals.

However, Fife Council will need to stump up £1.8m to get it started.

The school, which was built after the closure of the old Viewforth High School in Loughborough Road, has capacity for 600 pupils and has been “over-occupied” for the past six years.

As well as Viewforth High School, the Windmill Community Campus also includes Rosslyn School, a public library and a Fife Council local office.