HERE is the first look around the brand new £25million school which has kick-started the transformation of education in Blackburn with Darwen.

The new Pleckgate High School Mathematics and Computing College, boasts an indoor-outdoor winter garden with palm trees which is set in the middle of the school.

There is also a 100-seater outdoor amphitheatre, panoramic views around Blackburn, a 360-seater theatre and dance studio, eco-friendly features as well as endless technology and light and much more.

And according to headteacher Robin Campbell this ‘great environment’, which brings the school into the 21st Century, has left staff ‘incredibly excited’ as they unpack 2,700 crates.

The school will be ready to welcome its first pupils at 8.30am tomorrow for the staggered opening.

It was created under Blackburn with Darwen Council’s £203million Building Schools for the Future, BSF, scheme which will see all of the borough’s secondary schools are being re-built or re-modelled.

Classrooms that can be extended, a music studio, fingerprint technology to top up the cashless catering machines, a gym, a sports hall, a bubble roof similar to those seen at the Eden Project in Cornwall, all add a futuristic look to the school.

The school is spread over two floors and has been colour-coded and divided into themed sections.

They are activity which is yellow and covers PE, music, drama and media; turquoise for creativity where art and technology is taught; lime green is the discovery area for science and maths; and orange for global which incorporates English, modern languages, geography, history and RE.

Mr Campbell said: “To say everybody at the school is incredibly excited about this would be a massive understatement.”

He added: “Students and staff have been building up to this moment for a long time and it is even more thrilling to be the very first BSF school to open in the borough.”

Councillor Maureen Bateson, Blackburn with Darwen Council’s executive member for children’s services, said: “The doors opening on the new Pleckgate school is very much the fruition of many years of hard work.”

Pupil numbers will increase from 1,190 to 1,350 and additional children will be arriving from Beardwood Humanities College, which is due to close down in 2012.

Click on the link below for our photo gallery of the new school.