A specialist school in Colerne for dyslexic children has been given the go-ahead to expand.

Calder House School is one of only ten independent schools across the country approved by the Department for Education and Skills for youngsters with specific learning problems.

Now the school is set to grow, giving children the chance to tackle their learning difficulties and reach their full potential.

"It's a lovely school to work in," said principal Sandra Agombar.

"We had to seek permission if we wanted to expand and our Ofsted was good enough, and now we can expand from 30 to 48 pupils."

Already the school has two new classrooms, which just need a few finishing touches before new pupils enrol for the Easter term.

The pupils travel up to 20 miles to attend, from as far afield as Swindon, Devizes, Melksham and Bristol.

Some youngsters are funded by local education authorities.

The school aims to get youngsters back into mainstream education and 95 per cent of the pupils leave the school after two or three years to return to mainstream schools.

Calder House is a labour of love for Mrs Agombar, who first set up a school for dyslexic children in London.

The school is still running today, in Battersea.

Mrs Agombar and her husband retired for a few years but then became bored and decided instead to set up a new school in Colerne, because they considered the area needed a specialist centre.

They opened Calder House School in Colerne in 1995.

They have four classes, 13 staff, and six to eight pupils per class.

The school has been full for the past three years, so Mrs Agombar decided to expand.

She said the school's successful techniques for helping youngsters with dyslexia were not new.

But each child needs intensive help to get to the root of their difficulties, and to provide them with ways of overcoming them.

Different children could have problems remembering what a teacher has said, with eye co-ordination, or co-ordinating the left and right sides of the body.

Staff help the children to develop new ways of compensating for their particular difficulties such as memory techniques, or how to listen carefully.

"We look beneath the reading or writing problem to find out what is giving rise to the problem," she said.

"We spend two sessions each day teaching at these weakest points.

"Apart from the special sessions, children have the whole national curriculum, with drama, music, art, history and geography, so once they return to mainstream schools they have not been left behind.

Mrs Agombar said dyslexia was thought to be the result of the brain processing symbols in a different way.

"It's a neurological difference," she said. "Many dyslexic people have tremendous gifts and visual strengths. Some of our greatest artists and designers have been dyslexic.

"They can see in three dimensions in the mind's eye, but sometimes have problems processing two-dimensional print."