RISING pupil numbers at a school near Taunton have prompted teachers to hand over their most sacred refuge to the pupils.

They are turning the staffroom into a classroom to stop class sizes getting too big as the school’s roll is set to grow from 296 this year to 312 next year – well above its 300 capacity.

An extra teacher is being recruited but a new classroom is only likely to be built once the roll at Cotford St Luke Primary School reaches a trigger point of 331.

Head teacher Alison Botarelli said: “The staff are giving up their staffroom as they feel so strongly that children should be able to come to their local village school.

“Needs must – we feel as a school that putting 36 children in a class, which was the solution given by the local authority, was not acceptable.

“From next September there will be 22 more children in key stage two than this year so we had to reorganise the space we have in the school “We want our parents to be reassured their children get a high standard of education.”

After a recent visit to the school, Taun-ton Deane MP Jeremy Browne urged Somerset County Council, to support a new-build.

He said: “If the capacity is not incr-eased, then future generations living in Cotford St Luke may even be forced to commute to another school.”

Cllr John Osman, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “The council faces unprecedented financial times and we would need to consider care- fully the needs of this school, along with the needs of all other schools in Somerset when allocating our limited resources.”