THE team behind Burnley’s newest high school threw open their doors as they hosted their first-ever Founder’s Day.

Borough MP Gordon Birtwistle and other invited guests joined the leading lights behind the new Burnley High School to see what it has to offer.

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For the current school year, the high school is being temporarily housed in Parkhill Business Centre, off Padiham Road.

But from September next year it is hoped that the establishment, part of the Chapel Street Community Schools Trust, will be housed in the former Habergham High building.

The start of the summer term saw 32 students enrol for Burnley High and the school’s supporters are making every effort to ensure that figure is closer to their 90-strong capacity next year.

The Christian-ethos school, which says it welcomes students of other faiths and those with none, has a sister site in Atherton, near Leigh, rated ‘good’ by Ofsted in its first inspection last June.

Dawn Forshaw is the head of the new school, with Elizabeth Haddock acting as executive principal for both the Burnley and Atherton sites.

Speaking after the service and a tour of the school, Mr Birtwistle said: “It was really good to see that they are up and running, giving parents in Burnley an alternative place where they can send their children to be educated.”

The MP, who witnessed the final of spelling competition and looked in on a number of lessons, said that the school was looking like it will be oversubscribed for 2015-16. The school is offering specialisms in both STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects as well as sustainability.

Mrs Forshaw has said previously that 60 per cent of the curriculum will centre on ‘project-based learning’, with a strong emphasis on literacy and numeracy.