A SCHOOL is facing a nervous wait over the summer holidays to find out if it will get a multi-million pound grant from the Government.

The head of Hummersknott School and Language College, Pat Howarth, said he was 'quietly confident' that the bid for £12m would be successful.

Darlington Borough Council and the school should hear in September if the school will qualify for the money for building repairs.

If successful the council has promised to contribute another £3m to take the repairs pot to £15m. Work could start on the school in September 2006.

The council selected Hummersknott as the secondary school in most need of building repairs in the town.

Mr Howarth said: "We don't know how much money is available but we are quietly confident. We have a good case, given the backlog of repairs in the building."

The money is being held by the Department for Education and Skills in the targeted capital fund.

Mr Howarth said it was believed 110 out of 150 local education authorities had put in bids for either £6m or £12m.

He said the team at Darlington Borough Council had proved very effective at getting grants for education projects in the past.

Mr Howarth said the school was in dire need of investment and needed a completely new heating system, which would cost more than the school's entire building repair budget for a year.

Although plans for the grant money are loose at this stage, it is likely that some school buildings, which would be too expensive to repair, would be knocked down. However, it won't be an entirely new school.

A council spokeswoman said: "We won't find out until September at the earliest, but it is more likely to be into the autumn time. We don't know how big the funding pot is and it's a national scheme, so we're up against bids from all over the country."

Hummersknott celebrates its 50th anniversary later this year.