PLANS for a top Monmouth school to use a temporary building to provide extra classroom facilities have been given the green light by Monmouthshire council.

Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools previously had separate boys and girls prep schools, but in September they merged together to form a mixed-gender prep school.

While the school says the change has proven popular, a planning report says it has put ‘pressure’ on existing facilities and created a need for temporary classroom accommodation.

Plans to install a Portakabin classroom for four years, located in the centre of the school between the two main buildings, have now been approved by Monmouthshire council.

The building will facilitate a dance studio, with two toilets proposed.

It will be 13.4-metres in length, 7.4-metres in width and 3.5-metres to the roof.

Neil Shaw, headteacher at Monmouth Prep School, previously said the proposal is to create a multi-purpose rehearsal space for dance, drama and music.

“We believe that a new multi-purpose rehearsal space would be a benefit for our girls and boys as we look for a permanent solution to support our co-ed prep school,” he said.

The planning application says the temporary building, which will be located on a grass verge, has been chosen as it can be installed quickly and easily removed with little impact when it is no longer needed.

A planning report says: “The boys and girls schools were both at low capacity and so it was decided to school them together until they are at full capacity again.

“This temporary solution is needed to support the school until the students can return to their respective schools.”

Haberdashers’ Monmouth Schools say the move to a mixed-gender prep school has been popular, and there are no plans at all to return to single-sex prep schools.

Monmouth town councillors supported approval of the plans, with a report saying members “understood the need” for the facility.

A decision notice approving the plans was issued by Monmouthshire council last Monday, June 13.