A BLACKBURN school is set to receive more than £100,000 Government funding after achieving specialist status.

Blakewater College will become a specialist mathematics and computing school from September.

The Shadsworth Road school had to raise £50,000 from private sponsorship to bid for the specialism, as well as draw up a plan showing how it also would benefit the community.

Blakewater's success, one of 89 new specialist schools announced by the Schools Minister Andrew Adonis today, means that it will receive a lump sum of £100,000 for a capital project to enhance its facilities, and £129 per pupil per year, to implement their development plans, for the next four years.

Plans are already in place for year nine pupils to be able to sit their GCSE exam in ICT two years early, in summer 2009.

Other plans include a new "maths for enterprise" course, focusing on equipping all pupils with skills for the workplace, and sending staff into feeder primary schools to help raise achievement in maths.

The school's facilities could also be opened to the wider community for adult basic computing, maths and literacy classes.

The maths and computing status would be kept when Blakewater relocates as part of the planned new east Blackburn community school, under Blackburn with Darwen Council's Building Schools for the Future scheme, and it is likely the school would then bid for a second specialism.

The college spent more than a year putting the bid together, and garnering sponsorship money from local and national businesses, regeneration group New East Blackburn, Community Church Blackburn, and Blackburn College.

The new status is another major step in the turnaround of the school's fortunes.

Blakewater opened in April 2005 in the former Queens Park Technology College, which closed after getting the worst GCSE results in the country.

Lee Harris was brought in as a superhead, and the school has since made rapid progress. In 2006 it was in the top one per cent of most improved schools, it received a glowing Ofsted report last year, and also attained some of the borough's best GCSE pass rates.

Mr Harris said: "It's a great achievement to get maths and computing specialist status and it's another benchmark in the school's development.

"It gives us a significant amount of funding to increase what's offered to youngsters and the community and the benefits will be felt across all subjects."

Specialist schools have a focus on their chosen subject area but must meet National Curriculum requirements.

Coun Chris Thayne, the council's executive member for children's services, said: "This is a great piece of news for the start of the year and I am delighted for the school staff and pupils."