THE future of secondary and sixth form education is taking shape.

Three new "superschools" are under construction in Burnley and Pendle ahead of their anticipated opening next September.

Pendle Vale College, Shuttleworth College and Burnley Schools Sixth Form are the first wave of the £250million Building Schools for the Future scheme.

Pendle Vale is replacing Walton High School and being built next to the old school buildings in Oxford Road, Nelson.

Pendle Community High School, which is for 11 to 19-year-olds with general learning difficulties, will share the new campus site.

The new building will be one of the most environmentally-friendly in the country, with energy saving technology including a boiler fuelled by woodchips and rainwater harvesting.

Other green technologies will include ground source heat pumps, solar panels for domestic water heating, combined heat and power pumps to heat the swimming pool and a natural ventilator system for classrooms.

Shuttleworth College replaced Gawthorpe High School and is currently operating out of the former Habergham Sixth Form buildings in Kiddrow Lane.

The new buildings are under construction in Burnley Road. When completed it will boast state-of-the-art facilities such as sports pitches and lecture halls, as well as "green" energy resources, such as wind turbines, and rainwater recycling.

Burnley Schools Sixth form is perhaps the most ambitous project. As well as the college, the Burnley Campus will include a faith centre, Barden Junior Nursery School, Barden Community Infant school for general learning difficulties, a cafe, theatre, sports facilities, auditorium and public ilbrary.

It replaced Habergham and St Theodore's sixth forms and operates out of the former Barden High School, in Heald Road, Burnley.

The new campus is being built next to this site.

TIMETABLE OF CHANGE

>> Phase Two
Originally scheduled to open in September 2009, but planning rows have delayed some of them.

  • Sir John Thursby Community College & Ridgewood Secondary Special School.

Work on the joint campus in the grounds of the former Walshaw site in Eastern Avenue, Burnley, began this summer.

  • Marsden Heights Community College.

Currently the subject of a planning row about the loss of Bent Head playing fields in Brierfield. The county council now predict the school to open in September 2010.

  • Unity College.

Work on the new school has been delayed due to an ongoing wrangle over the potential site in Towneley Park. A public inquiry into the issues was held in August and the county council now predicts the school will open in September 2010.

>> Phase Three
Scheduled to open September 2010.

  • Blessed Trinity RC College.

The former St Theodore's RC High School, Ormerod Road, Burnley, will be demolished and a new school built there.

  • Hameldon Community College.

Original plan by Lancashire County Council was to build the new school off Rossendale Road, but Burnley Council objected, and has now cleared an area in Melrose Avenue as an alternative site.

  • The Rose School.

A 40-place behaviour, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) special school for 11 to 16-year-olds. Currently operating out of Swindon Street, Burnley, the new school will be built in Coal Clough Lane.