PLANS to expand two schools in Southam-pton look like they are finally getting off the drawing board.

After twice being told that money to rebuild Bitterne Park school was being withdrawn, school leaders have begun the process of deciding how the new school will look.

It is the furthest education chiefs have got with putting firm plans in place to rebuild the school, which was described as “crumbling in places”.

And it is not the only school to see its ambitions take shape as money was also confirmed to expand provision at Springwell Special school.

Consultations have been launched by the city council in respect of both plans that will ultimately see Bitterne Park increase in size from the current number of 1,500 accommodating 1,800 pupils.

The plan is to increase the number of pupils on roll at Springwell, which caters for children with special educational needs from 112 to 128 by September next year.

The large increase in numbers at Bitterne Park will require an entirely new school to be built on the site of the current campus at Copsewood Road, a project that has kept headteacher Susan Trigger extremely busy.

She said: “We have meetings very regularly with designers and experts from the Department for Education to actually build an entirely new school building.

“It is a very exciting time and we are very pleased to have got this far down the planning stages after the previous delays.”

Funding for both projects has come from the Priority School’s Build programme which is releasing millions of pounds in phases to rebuild schools across the country that are in dire need of updating and repair.

At Bitterne Park staff and pupils have had to put up with a number of problems including crumbling concrete, a leaking roof, temporary classrooms and rotting roof and wall panels.

As previously reported by the Daily Echo the funding for the project was finally confirmed by the Department for Education last year after a series of delays.