A POPULAR York school is to get a £200,000 grant for a new extension, and the building should be ready for use by this September.

Archbishop Holgate’s school learnt yesterday that the plans for much-needed new catering facilities and social spaces for students had got the go-ahead.

The city council’s executive member for education Cllr Stuart Rawlings approved the funding request at a decision session yesterday afternoon.

He had heard from education officials that the heavily subscribed school was in need of new facilities to cope with growing student numbers.

Numbers have been on the rise at Archbishop Holgate’s since the closure of Burnholme Community College, and are set to grow further.

Although the school has already increased classroom space to accommodate the growing pupil roll, it desperately needs bigger kitchens and social spaces to cater for all its students.

Cllr Rawlings was presented with two options for the new building - either a traditionally built structure or a modular building that would be both quicker and less expensive to build.

He asked for assurances over the quality of the modular option before approving the latter option.

The council’s education chief Jon Stonehouse said: “The majority of school extensions will be modular buildings. They are very high quality and last the test of time."

He went on to reassure the councillor that pupil numbers are expected to “level out” at Archbishop Holgate’s in coming years and that the planned expansions would be “fit for purpose” for the numbers the school is expected to see.