A MULTI-million pound revamp of secondary schools is planned in Middlesbrough.

Three school building programmes, costing a total of £90m, will be completed over the next six years.

The ambitious plans were unveiled to a meeting of headteachers on Thursday night, including:

*A school building for 1,350 students on the site of the town's Acklam Grange school;

*A single Roman Catholic school to serve the whole of the town at a site to be determined;

*A single new school for 1,400 students to serve the current Hall Garth and King's Manor catchment area at a site to be determined;

*Further major development at Ormesby Comprehensive, in east Middlesbrough;

*The rebuilding of special schools, with secondary provision, and locating them next to mainstream schools.

Middlesbrough Council is applying for about £90m from the Government's Building Schools for the Future initiative, to complete the biggest ever investment in secondary education in the town.

Terry Redmayne, executive director of education, said: "This will set a pattern for secondary schooling in Middlesbrough for the next century.

"We have already discussed in some detail with headteachers and governors the challenges we face over the next decade, including matching our school population with appropriate schools.''

He said it represented substantial change, but a huge opportunity to provide schools which would be sustainable and stable in the longer-term.

He said it would "provide the kind of environment in which we can all work successfully to raise standards in every classroom in Middlesbrough".

Spokesman for the Middlesbrough Catholic Diocese Dr Jim Whiston said: "The trustees of the Diocese and the trustees of the Faithful Companions of Jesus, the headteachers of St David's RC Technology College and The Newlands FCJ School, the principal of St Mary's College and the chairs of governors of the three institutions are of one mind - that participation in a borough-led Building Schools for the Future bid represents a wonderfully exciting opportunity for the Catholic community.''