THE rooms which are the centre of attention at Hollins High School don't look much like classrooms.
They are literally empty shells. But come September, when youngsters return from their long summer break, these classrooms will be brimming with technological equipment which will ensure Hollins is a world apart from other schools in the area.
That's because Hollins has become Hyndburn's first specialist college, focusing on technology-related subjects like design, information technology, engineering, maths and science.
Along with the other six high schools and one college in Hyndburn, Hollins is evolving to provide the best possible education for youngsters.
For Hollins, choosing technical college status was a commercial one. Business and industry in Hyndburn has changed. Gone are the days of the big mills and massive manufacturing employers -- they have been replaced by hi-tech firms which, it is hoped, are the future.
Such companies were approached to help raise the £50,000 needed to bid for technical college status. They want to see a return on their money -- school-leavers equipped to benefit their firms.
The school's bid was successful and with it came £100,000 in extra government funding to help it specialise.
Headteacher Frank Havard said: "What technical college means is that while we continue to aim for high standards in all subjects, we will aim even higher in certain specialist subjects.
"We are simply changing to match trends outside and provide youngsters with the skills to get on.
"Ultimately the government wants many schools to specialise in arts, languages and so on but technical college status seemed to make sense to us because it fitted in with what business wanted." The government is also aiming to let pupils and parents choose which schools youngsters go to, based on what is specialises in rather than the catchment area.
Mr Havard added: "That may or may not happen but it will mean massive changes."
Other schools in the area are reluctant to talk about their plans for wholesale status changes, but Accrington and Rossendale College is another institution which aims to meet demand.
It is investing £8million in building a new construction centre which, a spokesman said, should turn it into a centre of excellence for the profession.
He said: "We are aiming to serve a demand. We have to provide what people want our we already have a good reputation in this field.
"The only thing that really matters here is student learning. All the financial systems, governing systems and improvements to buildings are here to make student learning better, and the key of it all is what goes on in the classroom.
"In East Lancashire we have a history of undervaluing ourselves, but here in Accrington we have one of the best colleges in the country."
That is a sentiment shared by other schools too. Rhyddings High School, for example, has secured funding to move onto one site instead of two. A spokesman for the Oswaldtwistle school said: "It will make a massive difference to us. Having all the pupils on one site will mean enormous improvements for all of us and will benefit us tremendously."
Most controversially, Moorhead High School in Accrington is extending its Queens Road West site to bring more of the school together as well as spending more than £2 million on a new sports complex for the whole community -- even though part of that community is opposed to it.
"Our priority is the education we can provide and this new facility will improve that and benefit the community," the school said in a statement last year.
"We have to go for the facilities we need to stand apart from other schools and make people want to come here."
Mount Carmel, the Roman Catholic school in Accrington, and St Christopher's, the CE school in town, also boast improvements -- and have stressed the importance of continually raising standards.
At Norden High School, the emphasis is also on improving the learning environment.
A spokesman for the Lancashire Education Authority said: "There are a lot of changes going on in Hyndburn and they are for the better.
"People will see better facilities for their children and improvements all round."
Mr Havard added: "We need to work together more. We have partner schools, including Mount Carmel and primary schools. By working together we can achieve more for the people we are here to serve, the people of Hyndburn."
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