A FORMAL application has been submitted for the primary school to be built at Tadpole Farm in North Swindon.

The school was originally due to be built with the 1,700-home development, but due to the desperate need for places, an alteration to the application was made, meaning the council could build the school first.

Now a formal plan has been put forward for the building and, although deadlines are tight, it is hoped the school will be ready for its first intake of students in September this year.

When fully completed, the school will cater for children from nursery age up until Year 3. The school will have a nursery area along with eight classrooms, two for each year group.

On top of that there will be a sports hall and kitchen as well as an outdoor play area and a pitch for sports.

It was announced last year that the school will be formally run by the Diocese of Bristol, which runs a number of schools in the South West. Last month it was announced that Jane Leo, who runs a church school in Gloucestershire, will be the headteacher and is formally starting the job in April full time.

Although the school has been designed using architects from Swindon Council, members of the diocese have used their experience to help with the plans.

John Swainston, the chief executive of the Diocese of Bristol Academy Trust, said the school would be completed to the highest standard.

“I am absolutely delighted with the design,” he said.

“It will be a real top-quality building and I think people will be pleased when they see it.

“We have been working with the Swindon architects over the last three months and although the basic design was Swindon’s, we have put through a few changes.

“In our office there are a number of us who have worked in education our entire careers so have been able to have an input. Even up until now they have been kind enough to accept some of the changes.

“We liked the very first design we saw and we like it even more now.”

The diocese will continue to work closely with the council as it is likely to be a close run thing to get the school open on time. The council has said in the past that if the school is not ready on time, temporary classrooms can be put in place so as not to disrupt children’s education.

Developers Crest, who will be building the houses, are still working on upgrading Tadpole Lane in preparation for the increase in traffic. The road is closed while the works are carried out and was due to reopen in February but, due to the bad weather, construction over-ran.