HUNDREDS of children, and especially girls, could be put off PE if they are forced to take lessons almost entirely outdoors for the next year, a school has warned.

King Alfred's Academy in Wantage made the warning as it seeks permission to keep using a temporary 'sports dome' at its West Site in Challow Road.

Temporary planning permission for the dome expired in March, but the school will not have the money to build a new, permanent sports hall on West Site until it sells its East Site across town to a housing developer in January.

At that rate, the new permanent sports hall will not open until summer 2018.

In the meantime, the 652 pupils who go to East Site will be transferred to West in the new year, and planning officers at Vale of White Horse District Council have previously indicated they did not want to grant an extension for the dome.

Now the 1,800-pupil academy has warned the council that if the officers do not grant a time extension, hundreds of children's education will be harmed.

Simon Spiers, CEO of the Vale Academy Trust which runs the school, wrote to the council: "The consequences of not receiving an extension to the current temporary planning permissions, whilst the new sports hall is being built, are significant.

"It would have a seriously detrimental impact on Year 9 and Year 10 students based at West Site undertaking GCSE and BTEC qualifications in sport-related courses for which specific indoor facilities are required.

"This would result in these students being disadvantaged during their studies."

Mr Spiers also said that being forced to take down the dome would mean PE lessons at West Site would have to be 'almost entirely' outdoors, whatever the weather, and he warned: "Latest research shows that this is one of the key reasons why young students, and particularly girls, are not keen to participate in physical education, negatively impacting on their general health and wellbeing."

For these reasons, he concluded: "It is essential that we obtain an extension to the current planning permission for the dome during this transition period."

Mr Spiers made his warning in a planning application to the Vale to build the new sports hall and move extra sports classrooms over from East Site.

As well as seeking permission to build the new permanent hall, the application requests that the school be allowed to keep using the dome until the new hall opens.

The plans are part of a massive set of building works at West Site and Centre Site in Portway as the school moves from three sites down to two.

The academy has said many of its new facilities, including the new permanent sports hall, will be available to the public outside school hours.

Vale of White Horse District Council said it could not comment on the school's application to keep using the sports dome.