BOLTON School has unveiled plans to transform its primary school accommodation over the next four years.

The governors of the boys' and girls' divisions have worked together on the £10 million plans which include a brand new building for the infants, an extension of the boys' division for a new junior school, a joint refectory and a shared music school.

Beech House, which is currently home to the shared infants school and is in the grounds of the girls' division, will close to make way for a brand new building on land between Park Road and Dobson Road.

The current boys' junior school off Park Road will close to be replaced with an extension of the main school in Chorley New Road.

A joint refectory will be built on the land between Beech House and the girls' division which will be open to sixth-formers for food and hot drinks throughout the school day.

This will mean boys and girls will be able to eat their lunches together for the first time in the independent school's history.

Once Beech House in empty, there are plans to transform it into a shared music school for the pupils.

Plans for the new infants school have caused some concern from neighbours who are worried about the request to close part of Dobson Road and re-direct traffic along Glade Street.

However, the school has held open evenings in a bid to allay the fears of residents.

As well as the building plans, the governors hope to generally improve traffic flow around the school as Chorley New Road has become a notorious congestion spot in the mornings and late afternoons.

The space left by the old boys' junior school will be turned into a car park and coach turn-around spot and there are plans to generally improve the look of the area.

Providing planning permission is granted, the new infants school will open in summer 2004, the dining rooms will open the following summer and the boys junior school will open in summer 2006.

Headteacher of the girls' division, Jane Panton, said: "The older girls are excited about the thought of a shared dining area.

"We just want to normalise things. This is an exciting time for the school and the new buildings will create a lot more space for us."