Plans for a new external classroom at a South Tyneside school to “enhance outdoor learning provision” have been submitted to council development bosses.

South Tyneside Council’s planning department has received an application for East Boldon Infant School off Front Street in the borough’s Cleadon and East Boldon ward.

The school has applied for permission for the erection of an “external classroom” on the school site in a playground area to the rear of the building.

East Boldon Infant School, Front Street, South Tyneside | Google/LDRS

placeholder image — East Boldon Infant School, Front Street, South Tyneside | Google/LDRS

A planning application states work on the building has not started and a heritage statement submitted with the application notes the existing school buildings are “locally listed” and sit within the East Boldon Conservation Area.

The proposed development is described as a “small, single-storey external classroom” which would be “constructed in timber cladding with a low-profile mono-pitched (or flat) roof” and “used to enhance outdoor learning provision and improve the educational environment for pupils”.

It was argued that the development would be of a “modest scale to remain visually subordinate to existing school buildings”, would be “in keeping with the conservation area palette” and would be positioned to “minimise visibility from public view points”, as well as having the design feature of “reversible construction”.

Applicants said the development would “preserve the character and appearance of the conservation area” and “reflects good design practice through small scale, sympathetic materials and minimal street visibility”.

The heritage statement adds: “The proposed external classroom is a modest, sensitively designed and well-screened addition to the school site.

“It will preserve the character and appearance of the East Boldon Conservation Area, will not affect any nearby heritage assets and aligns with national and local heritage policies.

“The proposal represents a positive enhancement of school facilities with no material heritage impacts and is therefore considered acceptable in planning and heritage terms.”

South Tyneside Council’s local list includes a variety of buildings which “use traditional vernacular materials and construction techniques, are local landmarks, are good examples of buildings by local architects [or] are historically important to the borough” and buildings on the list must meet certain criteria, including being of historic interest, architectural interest, associative interest or townscape interest.

East Boldon Infant School’s entry on the council’s local list describes it as “a fine mixed board school of 1885 [and] now the village infant school” which is “single-storey with a tall roofscape and a cascading Gothic arrangement of steep Welsh slate pitches, gables, hips, chimneys and cylindrical ridge vents”.

The listing adds the “large ornate timber cupola and spire has sadly gone”, that “rear extensions have not spoilt its original design” and that “some of the playground walls have round coping bricks.”

A decision on the external classroom at East Boldon Infant School is expected following a council consultation exercise.

Comments on the plans can be made via South Tyneside Council’s planning portal website until March 4, 2026.

For more information on the plan, or to track its progress, visit the council’s planning portal website and search reference: 250743