EVERY high school in Blackburn and Darwen will be refurbished or rebuilt if a council bid for £150million of government cash is successful, it was revealed today.

Blackburn with Darwen Council expects to hear in May or June whether its bid for the huge sum to revitalise secondary school provision in the borough has been approved.

The news of the plan -- which could begin as early as April 2005 -- comes as plans for a £20million state-of-the-art educational academy for Darwen were also unveiled.

The ambitious plan for a town centre academy will offer vocational and academic courses for pupils aged 11-19 in Darwen for the first time in a bid to raise standards.

It is to be funded by a charitable gift from businessman Rod Aldridge, executive chairman of private company Capita.

The major work across the borough will be funded by the government's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme, which is initially putting £2.2billion into rebuilding and renewing around 300 secondary schools across the country, with a view to eventually improving every school in the country.

It aims to provide all secondary age pupils with 21st century facilities over the next 10-15 years.

Lancashire County Council's bid to the DfES for cash from the first wave of cash from the fund to bulldoze Burnley and south Pendle secondary schools and replace them with eight new super schools failed last week.

It was felt the borough's schools were performing too well and they were put on the reserve list.

Blackburn with Darwen Council said it is too early to say which schools will be demolished and which will be refurbished but it has said the charitable academy would be one of two new schools for Darwen.

The announcement of the academy has raised questions over the futures of the secondary schools in Darwen, which are Moorland High School in Holden Fold and Darwen Vale in Blackburn Road.

Darwen Moorland was put into special measures at the end of January after being deemed as a failing school by education inspectors.

An Ofsted report found that it was the third lowest achiever in East Lancashire with only 22 per cent of pupils achieving GCSE grades A* - C.

The report stated that standards were unacceptable and that improvements must be swift and dramatic.

The setting-up of academies, as new specialist schools, is being encouraged by the government across the UK.

The Government wants companies or individuals to provide the money to create academies in areas of need and they will then add 90 per cent more funding -- taking the cost of the Darwen academy to £20million.

The plan for Darwen, which is at a very early stage, is the first anywhere in the country to receive £2million backing from the Rod Aldridge Foundation.

Capita is currently in a £200 million 15-year public-private partnership with Blackburn with Darwen Council to provide many of its services.

Mr Aldridge said: "I am now keen to enter into a dialogue with the council, local people and the Department for Education and Skills to develop a proposal for a high quality 'state of the art' school in Darwen."

Coun Mike Law-Riding, Tory spokesman for education, said it was unlikely the amount of pupils in Darwen would support three secondary schools.

Coun Mahfooz Hussain, executive member for education and lifelong learning said: "This is a marvellous personal gesture from Mr Aldridge."