YOUNGSTERS could continue to be taught in a building on a site ‘unfit for a primary school’ for an extra three years.

Olive Primary School — a free school — opened in September last year in Ashton House, a building in Waterloo Street described as the ‘most dangerous place for a school’ due to its proximity to the A666 and as ‘wholly unfit to house a primary school’.

In June council bosses limited the time the school could stay in the building until August 1, 2018 in order to press the school into moving to a better location.

But immediately after the decision, the application was withdrawn and the Government’s Education and Skills Funding Agency has now applied again to use Ashton House as a free school, this time for three additional years up to August 1, 2021 until a site for a permanent school can be secured and a new building erected.

The EFSA had wanted to secure a site at Falcon View site in Cotton Street but the council withdrew the site from sale on June 15, 2017. A council spokesman said: “We were unable to continue with the sale as it was inappropriate as a two-form entry school due to location and the impact of traffic on surrounding streets.”

The agency states in its latest application: “The period from commencing the site search to the withdrawal of the site from sale took over two years. This has therefore had a significant detrimental impact on the ability to find a new site and relocate pupils from Ashton House in a timely manner.”

“The ESFA will make every endeavour to deliver the site and open the school before September, 2020 if achievable.”

Olive Primary School was opened by the Tauheedul Trust as a Muslim faith based primary school which welcomes children from all faiths and none. It will reach its full size of 420 children in 2021.

There are currently 22 staff and 180 children and the school has already been placed in the top three per cent of schools nationally for the performance of its Year One pupils in this year’s phonics screening check.

The application states: “Continued use of Ashton House for education is required so that pupils can continue to be educated until the permanent primary school is constructed.”

Dawn Forshaw, Principal of The Olive School, Bolton, said: “The safety and wellbeing of our pupils is paramount and we are continuing to work with the local authority to ensure any fears that there may be around pupil safety are allayed.

“We have been operating from the temporary site at Ashton House for four terms, without incident, and the children are making excellent progress.

“The trust is continuing to work with the Department for Education to identify a permanent home for the school.”