Dublin City Council has given Gonzaga College on Sandford Road in Ranelagh, Dublin 6, the thumbs up for a massive extension which will include an art gallery and exhibition area and a two-storey lecture theatre.

The fee-paying Jesuit school has also got planning permission for a projection room, dining hall, 11 classrooms, two kitchens, green rooms, office toilets, a new entrance to the rear, and changing rooms.

The 3,909sq m (42,076sq ft) development will also include a weights training room, a computer room, social area, and a new internal road in the grounds of the college, as well as an additional 27 car-parking spaces.

The all boys school, which opened in 1950, featured in a recent Department of Education report which found that the number of enrolments in private schools have increased, with Gonzaga up by 45 per cent, while those for non-fee paying schools are in decline.