AN independent school is to expand into a former nursing home which was at the centre of a row over 'dumped' old folk.

Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, will use the former Brooklands residential home to admit four-year-old boys and girls at Year One for the first time.

Current entry to the school starts at age seven and the scheme is expected to cost several hundred thousand pounds.

A row broke out in the run-up to last Christmas when the owners of the home in West Park Road gave outraged elderly residents six weeks' notice to quit.

But QEGS bursar Jeremy Ranford stressed today that the school had nothing to do with the way the building was emptied. He said: "We were made an unsolicited offer for the building. And we were not in a desperate need for it, as you will see from the careful way we are approaching the development.

"The patients' situation was very sad but that was in the hands of the proprietors. We hadn't expected the offer and did not seek it."

Blackburn with Darwen Council slammed the home's owner, a Mrs Choudhry, for the way 30 pensioners were left searching for somewhere else to live when she decided to sell.

Headmaster Dr David Hempsall said the move would be another major change for QEGS -- following its welcome this year to girl pupils when it went fully co-educational.

He said the building would be turned into classrooms but a planning application has yet to be submitted to the council.

"This is a logical move from an educational viewpoint," he added. "At present, pupils joining our junior school typically arrive at the start of Year Three, meaning they have to leave the familiar surroundings and friends at their primary school.

"From next September we will be offering continuity of education for boys and girls through from age four to 18." Development Director Phil Lloyd added: "Plans are now being drawn for a sizeable redevelopment of parts of the current site, where the junior school is accommodated on land next to Dukes Brow."

The redevelopment is expected initially to cost more than £120,000.

The school plans to give the junior school a clear physical identity, with its own marked entrance, but pupils in the new building would still have access to facilities in the main school, such as the swimming pool and dining area.

Dr Hempsall said: "It was the lack of space which prevented us from making this change earlier. It enables us to put the final piece in the jigsaw."

Kimberley Marshall, who previously worked at a school in Bolton, has been appointed Early Years Co-ordinator. Dr Hempsall said several applications for new places had already been received.