A primary school in New Malden is set for another upgrade to complete its major expansion.

Burlington Junior School won permission from Kingston Council in 2022 to rebuild its crumbling main building – described as "falling apart" by its chair of governors.

The development, which was completed in April, increased the school's capacity from 480 to 600 pupils across years 3 to 6. It involved demolishing the school's main building for a new three-storey teaching block, so that it could expand from four to five forms of entry.

The new block has classrooms, group rooms and teaching spaces. It also has a sports hall, available to locals outside of school hours, along with an artificial grass pitch and games areas.

The school had to build on an existing play area to complete the development, leading it to submit separate plans to change the use of land at a neighbouring site to provide extra playing fields.

A new report by council officers recommended this application for approval, ruling: "The proposal would support the provision of education facilities in the form of additional school playing fields for an existing local school, which is afforded great weight in support of this proposal."

The land is part of the empty Hobkirk House and Noble Centre site, a former care home and physiotherapy practice, with both buildings due to be demolished.

 The council rejected plans to replace Hobkirk House with 34 flats in 2024, which the developer is currently appealing.

Stephen Arbuthnot, chair of governors at Burlington Junior School, previously told a council meeting, ahead of the school's expansion, that it was "falling apart".

He said: "In 2017… [we] discovered that the CLASP building, as we call it, was falling apart and we live in fear that any day something's going to happen, someone's going to inspect it and it's going to get condemned and we're not going to have the school that we want."

During a tour of the school in 2019, he said "there was a bucket, or a big plastic bin" in every room and hallway "because the roof was leaking".

Mr Arbuthnot continued: "It's not leaking as much anymore because the council spent a lot of money repairing it, but the school is still falling down."

The council is expected to make a final decision on the school's application for new playing fields soon.