HESKETH Fletcher High School has been granted specialist status for Humanities by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).

The school is the first in Wigan to achieve a speciality in Humanities and will now concentrate on English, Drama and Religious Education as areas of excellence.

The accolade comes as the result of a long application process, which involved the school raising £50,000 to support its bid.

It will now receive an extra £150,000 a year for the coming years to plough into further developing educational standards.

Delighted headteacher Dr Ted Walker said the cash would provide a boost for the entire curriculum, not just the specialist areas.

He said: "This is fantastic news for our school and it's fair to say we are all delighted.

"We intend to use some of the money to create a new drama studio and to provide new technology such as interactive whiteboards to help teaching both in the areas of excellence and other subjects.

"One of the areas we would like to concentrate on is literacy and we will be working with a group of local primary schools and our colleagues at Fred Longworth on this project.

"The school raised a sizeable portion of the money for the bid through its own resources but we were lucky enough to have received sponsorship from the Longport Group who are currently developing Gibfield Park. We are extremely grateful to the company for its support and to the other smaller local organisations who have helped us.

"I would also like to thank our local councillors and our MP Andy Burnham for their unstinting support of the school.

"At Hesketh Fletcher we are lucky to have dedicated and talented staff and ambitious and enthusiastic pupils who ensure that standards in every area of school life are excellent. The award of specialist college status really confirms what everyone at the school has known for a long time."

Wigan Council's Cabinet Member for Children's Services Cllr Brian Wilson said: "I am pleased to congratulate everyone at Hesketh Fletcher for achieving specialist college status. Gaining this for Humanities is a first for Wigan Borough and I would like to say well done for the hard work everyone has put in to achieving what is a recognition of their excellence in these subject areas."