JCoSS’s hope of accepting more pupils this year was dashed because permission to erect temporary classrooms arrived too late.

The school has launched an appeal to fund a new building which would enable it to increase its year-7 entry from 180 to 210.

In the meantime, it had been looking to house additional pupils this autumn in Portakabins.

But, explained headteacher Patrick Moriarty, “we didn’t get planning permission for the Portakabins in time. We’ve got it now but it was too late. We will for 2022 though.”