SCHOOLS in Lancashire are to benefit from more than £600,000 of security improvements as part of a government campaign to improve safety.

Personal security training for teachers, better CCTV and state-of-the-art security devices are part of a £22million package of measures to improve safety in schools announced by Schools Standards Minister Estelle Morris.

The Department for Education and Employment has confirmed £567,840 will be given to Lancashire County Council, with Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council getting £75,000.

Lancashire County Council will decide how and where the money is spent, while Blackburn With Darwen Borough Council has selected 21 schools which will each get money to spend how they please. Both grants are up on last year.

County Councillor Hazel Harding, chairman of the council's education committee, said: "This is excellent news for Lancashire because it is money we need.

"We all know schools have become the victims of crime and we do have a priority list of schools which need attention.

"This money should mean we can work our way through that list and move on to schools.

"Children have the right to an education in a safe environment." She added: "Teachers are the experts at educating children, while we will use security experts to ensure this money is spent in the best possible way."

A spokesman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: "This is an annual allocation and each year we pick 21 schools which each get £3,500 to spend.

"It is up to each school how they spend it. Another 21 schools will get money next year."

It is now commonplace for primary schools to have safe-like locks on entrance doors which ensure strangers can get into the building, while more and more secondary schools are investing in CCTV to deter crooks.

Others have installed high security fencing to make sure vandals can't get in.

Moorhead High School, in Accrington, is still counting the cost of a £250,000 fire in one of its classrooms before Christmas -- the second in three months.

Acting head Joan Hayselden said: "The money we spend repairing damage caused by things like fires and criminal damage is money which could be much better spent elsewhere."

Schools Standards Minister Estelle Morris said: "Pupils and staff need to be able to learn, teach and work in safe and secure environments.

"A secure school where pupils, teachers and parents feel safe and can concentrate their efforts on the day to day work of teaching and learning will lead to higher standards."

Picture: Deputy headteacher Paul Dyson- Knight, of Moorhead High School, Accrington, inspects the mess left by arsonists