A popular primary school in Southgate Green is a “victim of its own success,” according to parents opposing council plans to bring an extra reception class to the school.

Parents at Walker Primary School in Waterfall Road believe facilities are already overstretched and the health and safety of their children will be jeopardised if a third reception class is brought to the school in September to cope with extra demand for school places this year.

It emerged yesterday that some lessons are already carried out in the corridors and the stock room as there is limited space for the 420 pupils currently enrolled at the school.

In the latest Oftsed Inspection, in February 2007, the school was rated Outstanding – the highest rating - in 23 out of 27 fields.

The Ofsted report praised the school and said it has gone from “strength to strength” since the last inspection.

It praised head teacher Liz Whincop for providing the pupils with a “wonderfully rich curriculum.”

Parent Monica Sharma, who has two children at the school and is pregnant with her third child, said: “If we were a school that wasn’t performing properly, the council would do more to look at our facilities but as the head is performing so well we have gone off the radar.

“We have not been showing them any problems. It is a victim of its own success.”

Parents are concerned about the future of the school if 30 more children join the school as space is already limited.

They have launched campaign group Walker Parents’ Action Group to fight the proposals if it means facilities at the school are not improved.

Irene Sallas, who is chair of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and has two children at the school, said: “Our concern is that it is a knee jerk reaction on the behalf of the council. The number of kids without a place is very small – they want to come to this school.

She added: “The school can’t cope – it is already struggling to manage the health and safety of existing pupils. The only way they can do it is if they knock down the school and build it from scratch.

“It is about this school being over populated and the council trying to do something dangerous to satisfy this pressure.”

Parent John Tully, who was a pupil at Walker Primary School 30 years ago, said the buildings are in serious need of modernisation.

He said: “This school looks the same as it did 30 years ago – I remember all the buildings and they were only built as a temporary thing anyway.”

Ana Torma, who has two children at the school, helps out with reading three days a week at the school and is also worried about the lack of space.

She said: “It is just unbelievable. The staff have to make up for the lack of space by making children take part in maths activities in the resource room and go out in the garden for lessons, weather permitting.”

However, councillor Ayfer Orhan, cabinet member for schools and children’s services, dismissed the parents’ concerns that a bulge class is the only option for expansion.

She told the Enfield Independent yesterday that the council is in discussions with headteacher Liz Whincop with a view to “permanently expand” the school as well as improve the buildings.

She said she is waiting for the "imminent" results of a report commissioned by the council to test the feasibility of adding an extra reception class to the two already in place in the school.