COMPUTER and information technology skills are set to be boosted across St Helens, thanks to the development of two new specialist City Learning Centres. One of the key aims of the centres is to help people get work.

Work on both buildings, which will be sited in the grounds of Haydock and Rainhill High Schools, is due to start this month with the first pupils moving in during January.

The provision of the borough's first City Learning Centres forms part of St Helens Council's £5 million Excellence in Cities initiative which aims to enhance educational opportunities and to raise standards in schools through a variety of interesting projects.

Sharing their facilities with neighbouring feeder primary schools, the centres will improve access to the latest educational technology for pupils and adults alike while raising attainment levels through the use of technology. Increasing staying on rates, reducing truancy levels and improving the employment prospects of local people are among the aims of the new learning centres.

Councillor Andy Bowden, St Helens Council's Executive Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, said: "This is an important step forward in the Excellence in Cities programme. The centres will provide enhanced learning opportunities for young people within our schools. They will also act as test beds for innovation and new ways of teaching and learning and will be expected to work not only with secondary schools, but with the wider family of schools and the local community".