£7million new school for Little Harwood

5:31pm Monday 21st April 2008

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By Tom Moseley »

A BLACKBURN school is to be demolished and rebuilt as part of a £7million revamp.

St Stephen's CE Junior School, on St. Stephen's Avenue, will be knocked down and a new school built on the site.

The new, bigger school will cater for children from St Stephen's Infant School, opposite the junior school, which will close.

Bosses say neither of the current schools are "fit for purpose".

And it is claimed the move will help regenerate the Little Harwood area, and boost education standards by providing more space for specialist teaching and "cutting edge" ICT technology.

St Stephen's Junior School headteacher Eileen Don said: "We are already a very good school but moving into a new building can do nothing but good.

"All the parents are enthusiastic and so are the children. It's an exciting time, and it feels like moving into a new house."

Blackburn with Darwen council's ruling executive board has approved the proposals. A report presen-ted to the board said the existing buildings were in a poor condition and needed £650,000 of extensive repairs.

It said the playgrounds needed updating, and improvements to playing fields, including a new all weather pitch, were required.

The Government's schools department, now called the Department for Children, Schools and Families, gives local authorities and dioceses the opportunity to bid for money to extend or rebuild schools.

A funding bid was submitted to the Government in 2004 by Blackburn Diocese to pay for the £7.1million project. The council will contribute £350,511.

The new school, which currently has 272 seven to 11- year-olds, will cater for 490 four to 11-year-olds.

It is hoped it will be open by September 2009, in time for the new school year.

Fred Kershaw, deputy director of education for Blackburn Diocese, led a consultation into the plans from January until March.

He said: "We have had a few difficulties getting the funding but at the end of the day it will be for the benefit of the children, and will help regenerate the area of Little Harwood.

"Neither of the schools are now fit for purpose."

Mr Kershaw said both schools would remain open until the new school is built in the grounds of the 1960s-era junior school, which will then be demolished.

The diocese has not yet decided what to do with the Victorian infant school building when it closes, he added.