WORCESTER'S 'big schools' are set to get bigger.

Four secondary schools will expand to cater for a rise in the number of primary children needing places due to higher birth rates.

The schools were asked by Worcestershire County Council if they would take 30 more pupils per year group.

The expansion means some of the schools will eventually have 1,500 students on their rolls.

The schools will each receive an injection of £2.25 million capital funding from the county's basic need grant which is provided by the Department for Education.

Schools were selected by the council on their ability and willingness to expand, location in relation to expected growth and were all rated as 'Good' or better by Ofsted.

Nunnery Wood High School, Christopher Whitehead Language College, Tudor Grange Academy Worcester and The Chantry school in Martley all expect to expand.

Christopher Whitehead Language College, in Bromwich Road, has 1,100 pupils and will expand from 2017, reaching 1,500 by 2022.

Neil Morris said: "We've been asked because we are doing very well.

"We have a 12 acre site plus two acres of playing fields so we have the ability to expand.

"We will need to upgrade our facilities and we will be given £2.5 million to do that.

"It's exciting times.

"I've always said, give me proper facilities and we can challenge anyone."

Mr Morris said the school's system of sorting pupils into six houses helped reassure parents that their children would not be lost in a big school.

Nunnery Wood, which currently has 1,324 pupils, is consulting with parents about adding 30 pupils to each year from September 2018, bringing its numbers to 1,500 by 2022.

Headteacher Steve Powell said: "There is £2.5 million capital to build primarily a new arts centre and gallery space and a redevelopment of the science area and generally increase classrooms.

"We think this is a sign of success."

The Spetchley Road school would add seven extra classrooms and the two-storey art centre as well as improve facilities generally.

Tudor Grange Academy Worcester, Bilford Road has also agreed to add 30 pupils a year to its existing intake from 2017.

Andy Dickensen, headteacher of The Chantry School in Martley, said his school was looking to add an extra class to its year 7 in 2018 moving from 725 to 900 pupils over five years to serve its existing catchment.

He said: "We will need to build more classrooms and we will need to look at some of our specialist facilities to increase capacity in music, drama and IT.

"As an outstanding and over-subscribed school we think those are the reasons they are asking us.

"We are a small school that knows its students and we are very committed to maintaining that ethos."

Blessed Edward Oldcorne Catholic College, which has 1,050 pupils, declined to expand because of the size of its Timberdine Avenue site.

Principal Sean Devlin said: "We decided it wasn't in the best interests of our existing students."

Bishop Perowne CE College was not asked to expand.

Headteacher Mark Pollard said: "We have got good schools in the city so it is a very positive step to expand on what we have instead of building a brand new school.

"Bishop Perowne won't be involved in this first phase but as a growing school we will be welcoming increased numbers of students in September 2016 and we are all excited about the future."

Pershore High School headteacher Clive Corbett said he declined to expand to accommodate Worcester pupils.

He said: "We made a decision that we couldn't expand to take in Worcester city pupils when that would be depriving some of our catchment area of a place which we couldn't do."

The school will expand anyway to cater for increased housing in Pershore.

Councillor John Campion, cabinet member for children and families, said: "Informal discussions have taken place with all the secondary schools in the city and in adjacent areas and a number of schools are now bringing forward proposals to increase their Published Admission Number for Year 7 intake in September 2017 and 2018. "We would encourage parents and carers to respond to these consultations to help shape the final proposals."