THE books at St Augustine's Catholic College in Trowbridge are, unlike many others, showing a healthy balance.

Headteacher Brendan Wall believes the school has managed to steer clear of financial problems due to a combination of a rising funding and good financial management.

He said: "The budget has improved for us and we are not operating with a deficit budget at the moment, but I know colleagues in other schools are having problems.

"We won't be making anyone redundant, class sizes will remain the same and we hope to deliver a similar curriculum to this year."

The school is a popular choice for secondary schoolchildren in Trowbridge and its current roll of 927 pupils and the number wanting to attend the school is expected to increase next year.

The school governors have decided to place a ceiling on the number of pupils admitted, limiting it to 950, which could put additional pressure on the other two schools in the town, who also have rising numbers of students.