Students are prepared for move to school

So imagine the challenge of moving a school lock, stock and barrel to new premises.

But that is what education chiefs in Blackpool are preparing to do.

Around 500 pupils currently attending Bispham High School are set to move into the new £14m Aspire Academy on Blackpool Old Road at the start of November.

At the same time pupils from Highfurlong Special School will relocate into their new buildings on the shared site.

John Topping, deputy principal of Aspire Academy, said: “It is exciting to walk round the new school buildings and see the space and the opportunities the children are going to have.

“We have been working very closely with Highfurlong on this development for the past two years and the chance to have co-located schools is fantastic.”

The buildings are expected to be handed over on November 2, but teachers are already starting to set aside equipment and resources which will be transferred from the existing classrooms to the new premises.

This will be installed over the coming few weeks.

The school has been built following the demolition of the former Collegiate School.

It was merged with Bispham High School, and renamed Aspire Academy, complete with a new school uniform.

Classes from both schools have been integrated with each other since 2013 in readiness for the changes.

Facilities at the new site will include more than a dozen specialist classrooms including five technology rooms, a purpose-built dance studio and science labs, as well as a speciallybuilt hydrotherapy room for Highfurlong.

But the history of the previous establishments has been preserved.

Stained glass panels from the original Blackpool Grammar School have been fitted into the new school building.