A Lymington school desperately needs a £200,000 extension despite moving to a brand new building just under a year ago.

Our Lady & St Joseph Catholic Primary School had to move into their £1.5m new home even though bosses knew it was not big enough for their needs.

Restricted government funding meant that the 121-strong school only qualified for the minimum amount of financial help because of its small number of pupils.

The money allocated to them only stretched to four classrooms and a hall but the Roman Catholic school needs five rooms for lessons.

Head teacher Irene Cradick said: "We were the biggest school that qualified for the smallest amount of space. We were always aware that this would be necessary so it's just part of the procedure to make the school complete."

She added: "We knew that it would be too small for us because we need another room in school for activities such as music lessons and group work for special needs children."

At present such sessions often have to take place in corridors or in the entrance hall at the New Forest's only Roman Catholic primary school.

School governors have now applied for outline planning permission to build the new single-storey classroom at the Ramley Road site in Pennington.

Ninety per cent of funding for the new building is expected to come from a government grants and parents have been busy fundraising to provide the remaining £20,000. Mrs Cradick stressed that the additional capacity would not mean that the school would increase their number of pupils under any circumstances.

"We do not want to increase the number of children in the school because if we did we would need two extra classrooms!" she said. "It shouldn't cause any extra pressure on the local infrastructure."

Despite the need for the new classroom, pupils and staff are enjoying their plush new home after moving from their cramped 144-year-old site off Lymington High Street last December.

Mrs Cradick said: "It's lovely. There's so much room for the children to play in and they actually have a playing field.

"This a real treat because there wasn't a blade of grass on the other site."