PARRENTHORN High School is in line for a £7.5 million boost to bring it into the 21st Century.

It is one of only two secondary schools in the borough to be put forward to bid for Government cash, the other being Woodhey in Ramsbottom.

Town hall bosses say competition will be tough, and there are no guarantees. But if successful, it will mean new classrooms, better facilities and a complete refurbishment of the Heywood Road establishment.

Bury Council has chosen to back Parrenthorn's bid to the Targeted Capital Fund, because the borough is well down the list to receive money from the larger Building Schools for the Future pot, which aims to rebuild every secondary school over the next 15 years.

Other local schools which need improvements have not been chosen because they need to be completely rebuilt, but Parrenthorn and Woodhey can take advantage of this money for refurbishment works. The decision was made by councillors at Wednesday's executive meeting.

Mr Mick Fitzgerald, Parrenthorn head teacher, said: "If the bid is successful, and I desperately hope it is, it's great for the school and the people of this community. Schools have changed in the last ten years, and we need different facilities to make education in the 21st century a reality. But you cannot get that without significant investment."

He said the 32-year-old school, which has around 700 pupils, was built in a time of different needs.

"Now we need access to high quality ICT, classrooms that are a good size and very flexible in their use. We would want to improve areas of the school that are not fit for their purpose. Music, for instance: modern schools have practice rooms and recording space. We've got the children with the talent but we're turning them away because we don't have the facilities. We're also desperately short of a new science lab. We'd want to refurbish some of the school and build new, larger classrooms.

"It's a good school, with good results and a high demand for places. If we get this investment, the sky's the limit."