A PRIMARY school in Yate where 13 children missed out on a place to start this September has announced it is expanding to meet demand.

Tyndale Primary School has been given the go ahead to double its reception class, from 30 to 60 pupils, from the start of the new school year.

It comes after the school, on Tyndale Avenue, saw unprecedented numbers of families apply for a place for their child to start school in the autumn since it merged into one school from Cranleigh Court Infants and Fromebank Junior School in 2009.

The school’s new head teacher Angie Ritchie most of the children who were not given a place had siblings at Tyndale.

She said: “It’s great news.

“I've only been head teacher here since January, raising the school profile is one of my priorities so having so many parents wanting school places so soon is a great compliment to the schools continued success.

"This is the first time since the merge of infants and juniors they are oversubscribed."

Added Mrs Ritchie, who took over at the beginning of the year: “I have been working behind the scenes with governors and LA since discovering that 13 of our parents had not been allocated a place for their children for September.

“It's a huge relief to many Tyndale families whose children did not have a school place for their children.

“I'm thrilled the LA (local authority) and governors have agreed and given permission to go ahead.”

Children who missed out will now be given a place at the school and there are spare spaces for new applications.

Mrs Ritchie said she expected those places would be filled quickly as the second round of applications had not yet been finalised.