Council bosses have agreed to spend thousands more to expand a primary school which taught Strictly winner Kelvin Fletcher.

Cabinet members in Oldham signed off on a further £800k funding to create one new form of entry at Mayfield Primary School in Derker.

The extra costs are coming from the need to provide a new sports pitch, toilets and staff car parks, according to council documents.

The school taught soap star Kelvin Fletcher, who won the latest series of Strictly Come Dancing with his partner Oti Mabuse.

Council leader Sean Fielding welcomed the plans for providing more school places, adding: “It was also I understand the former school of Kelvin Fletcher who won Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday night and that’s a good enough reason as any.

“Maybe we can churn out some more dancers.”

The academy tweeted the Emmerdale actor when he began appearing on the show: “Wishing you the very best of luck Kelvin on your Strictly journey. Everyone at Mayfield is behind you.

“We love it when ex-pupils succeed like this and it really inspires the next generation of Mayfield children to work hard and follow their dreams.”

The academy, which is run by the Cranmer Education Trust,  currently caters for more than 240 pupils.

Earlier this year, council chiefs had signed off on using £2.5m from its education pot of basic needs funding for the project to meet a growing demand for pupil places.

Cabinet member for education, Councillor Shaid Mushtaq, told Monday night’s meeting: “This did come to cabinet in April 2019 and it was envisaged that there would be an increased cost.”

Members voted to increase the budget to £3.3m, which will ensure the works can go ahead and the school is able to open by September 2020.

Officers say the extra cash will enable the replacement of two car parking areas which are needed for the ‘significant increase in staff numbers’.

It will also pay for a new all-weather pitch and a redesign of the nursery toilets, all of which are considered ‘necessary’ to the scheme.

The new extension has been specially designed to enhance heating performance and reduce energy usage, according to the cabinet report.

Despite the extra costs of the Mayfield extension, officers state that it is still the best option to deliver new school places in the east Oldham area.