Education Minister Tim Crookall will seek approval at this month’s Tynwald sitting for a £3.2m extension at Ballakermeen High School, Douglas.
The three-storey building on the hard surfaced area of the playground would provide badly needed learning, examination and dining space.
Department of Education and Children estates director Richard Collister said accommodation for sixth form students was ‘cramped and not conducive to learning and attainment of the highest levels’.
And, that with increasing numbers of students staying on into sixth form, the situation needs to be addressed.
If approved, the successful tenderer Tooms Bros (1994) Ltd would start work on the site at the end of the school year in July.
The scheme would be completed by October 2014.
At present, Mr Collister said that examinations for more than 600 candidates take over the school’s hall, sports hall, gym and drama spaces, curtailing other activities.
The extension would relieve this pressure, allowing normal activities to go on during exam periods.
He said the dining room, which seats 300, is inadequate for a school of 1,500 pupils and leads to rushed sittings.
Inadequate capacity encourages students to go off site, where they can consume less nutritious meals.
The extension would link to the existing post-16 centre and kitchen.
A new additional study area, an enlarged common room, four additional classrooms, and a tutorial room would all be created on the first and second floor levels.
At ground floor, the extension would provide a further dining hall, increasing lunchtime capacity to 600.
And there would be an additional servery and improved kitchen preparation and food storage facilities.
Plans for the extension went on show to local residents in November. Government planners approved an application (12/01548/B) for the extension in January.
The extension continues investment in front-line education, which last year saw a new St Ninian’s Lower School open.
