EDUCATION bosses have welcomed the opening of three new super schools this week as an ‘historic’ moment.

And as students from Shuttleworth College, Padiham, and the Burnley Campus stepped into their classrooms this morning, bosses said the schools would help integration.

Holly Grove special school, another of the eight schools in Burnley and Pendle to open under the controversial £250million Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme, is set to open on Wednesday, as scheduled.

The schools were created in September 2006 and have since been operating out of the old schools’ buildings, which has caused problems.

Last week education bosses apologised after the opening of one of the Pendle Vale College site, in Oxford Road, Nelson, on of the new super schools, was delayed by one week until next Monday.

Setbacks in the construction of the new school were blamed on operational issues and the late arrival of essential furniture.

Lancashire County Council’s cabinet member for schools, Coun Vali Patel, said the schools would boost education levels.

He said: “This is a very important occasion for the students and the county of East Lancashire.

"It is an exciting moment and people should welcome it. It will boost education and allow communities to come together.”