A PRIMARY school near Dyson's UK headquarters is in line to receive £6 million for a new technology block.

The pioneering tech giant, which employs more than 3,500 people at its Wiltshire campus, has pledged the money to fund a STEAM centre at Malmesbury Primary School.

STEAM stands for 'science, technology, engineering, art and maths' and the idea is that the subjects can all be taught in one place – an approach company founder Sir James Dyson hopes will encourage more children to pursue careers in those fields.

Around a quarter of parents at the school work at Dyson - and the donation is conditional on the school receiving planning approval and an expansion in pupil numbers from the South West’s Regional Department for Education.

The development - which includes seven new classrooms and a school hall - could eventually allow for a 50 per cent increase in the school’s student population size, totalling 630 pupils across all age groups.

The school is currently at full capacity and the proposed expansion would enable the school to acquire neighbouring land free of charge.

Sir James said: “Dyson has grown in Malmesbury for the past 30 years and many of our engineers either studied at the school themselves or have their own children there now.

"We have long supported the school and simultaneously been on a mission to inspire more engineers all around the world.

"The creation of a new STEAM centre, right here in Malmesbury, will enable the school to be a pioneer for this age range, encouraging problem-solving and hopefully long lives as engineers!”

Malmesbury Primary head Steve Heal said: "We are thrilled to have the James Dyson Foundation’s support to expand our school so that we can meet the growing needs of the town, and bring wonderful new learning opportunities to all our pupils.

"We hope we will receive approval from the Regional Department for Education allowing us to unlock this generous donation and deliver an inspiring building.

"It will contain specialised facilities for STEAM education as well as accommodating increased numbers of pupils, and potentially sharing the facilities with children from other schools.

"The level of support we would receive from the James Dyson Foundation is unprecedented in the state primary sector.”

If approved the centre would be designed by Wilkinson Eyre, the architects behind many of Dyson sites including the Malmesbury campus.