A BOLTON primary school is celebrating a cash bonanza which will take it into the new Millennium in style.

Tonge Moor County Primary School is set to receive £288,000 over the next few years for extra classrooms, a modern staff room and a new administration area.

The school will also be able to get rid of a classroom brought "temporarily" onto the site in 1948.

The school runs as smoothly as the existing structure allows, but walls have had to be built to create extra classrooms, corridors utilised and all available space is quickly snapped up.

With 434 children on the roll and a staff of 25, Tonge Moor is one of the biggest primary schools in Bolton.

This year, for the first time, headteacher Phil Buckley refused to use the 1948 aluminium building, which swelters in the summer and freezes in the winter.

To accommodate the children, Mr Buckley has converted the library and made the best of a bad job.

"The school is fragmented and desperately needs to be brought together," said Mr Buckley.

"At present my staff have to meet in two separate staff rooms because there's no one room big enough for us. In the past I've had to hire local authority venues for training purposes.

"Because we need additional classrooms, the infant hall has been converted which means we can't have a full physical education programme.

"This money is tremendous and we're delighted. Over the two years I've been head here, I've been very much aware this work needed to be done.

"The local authority has been very supportive and have always recognised the need for investment at the school. I'm just happy we finally received the money."

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