THE number of four-year-olds admitted to Ulverston's Dale Street Infant School will be reduced from 40 to 27.

Cumbria County Council's school organisation committee voted to reduce the standard number following a fall in demand.

A total of 20 pupils aged four were admitted in September 2000.

Between 1996 and 2000, numbers varied from 16 and 24.

The nursery class has made a £30,000 move from a building opposite the main school site into surplus space in the main school building.

There were no objections to the proposal, which was published in September, and the changes will take effect from this September.

School organisation and research officer Mike Tuer said it was unlikely there might be a shortage of places to meet demand following the reduction of the standard number.

"If we see a major increase in numbers in the area then we would be looking at building a new school," he said.

"My projections to date show that it is an unlikely scenario."

Admissions at Haverigg Primary School, where demand has fallen considerably, are also to be reduced from 25 to 18 because a class teaching space is now being used as an information technology suite under the Cumbria County Council-led CREDITS project, which aims to regenerate rural communities through the teaching of IT.

And at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School, Dalton-in-Furness, admissions will be reduced from 17 to 15 to enable the governors to comply with class-size legislation.