WORK on extending Dunbar Primary School’s Lochend Campus will begin at the end of this month, headteacher Helen Gillanders has told parents.

The £8.5m Lochend Campus was opened four years ago to serve the school’s P4-7 pupils and take pressure off the original school building, which is now used exclusively for nursery and P1-3 children.

Mrs Gillanders told parents and carers that the Lochend Campus, which has 18 classrooms, required to be extended to accommodate the increasing pupil roll projected to arise from new housing developments in the school catchment, principally at Hallhill.

She said: “I received notification from East Lothian Council last week that the building warrant for the extension at Lochend Campus has been finalised and the work on a five-classroom, meeting room and staff work-base extension will begin on Monday, July 27.

“During the holidays I will meet regularly with the site manager and will ensure that they have put in place the required health and safety measures to enable our pupils to return to school on Wednesday, August 19, and still have access to their playground and areas for lining up.

“The contractors will also be implementing their traffic management plan to ensure safe access to the site during the holidays.

“I will post photographs on the progress of the project on our school website and Twitter during the holidays.

“We have a completion date of April 25, 2016, and we look forward to being able to show you around once the rooms have been completed.” The appointed principal contractor for the extension works is Clark Contracts.

Then-Education Secretary Mike Russell MSP officially opened the Lochend Campus, on Kellie Road, in September 2011.

It was built on a greenfield site to the west of the Hallhill Centre and not far from the existing John Muir Campus on Lammermuir Crescent, where the younger children are still taught.

The decision to maintain one primary school in Dunbar over two sites – instead of building a second, separate primary school to cope with the town’s housiing boom – was taken in 2007 following consultation with parents, the wider community and councillors.

An East Lothian council spokeswoman said: “Lochend Campus requires to be extended to accommodate the increasing pupil roll projected to arise from new housing developments in the school catchment.

“This is the first extension since the school was built and will increase the school from 18 to 22 classrooms, with additional general purpose space and ancillary accommodation.” Currently there are 520 pupils enrolled at the Lochend Campus.

There are 394 at the P1-3 John Muir Campus, which also currently has 18 classrooms. The spokeswoman added that there was “no need for extension at present” at that campus.