TWO schools are today to receive confirmation of a £3m boost to a city's sixth form provision.

The Department for Education and Skills is announcing its latest Target Capital Funding grants, which go to individual schools for new-build schemes.

Among the recipients will be St Leonard's RC School and the nearby Durham Sixth Form Centre, the upper school site of Durham Gilesgate Sports College.

St Leonard's is to receive £2.34m to develop a new sixth form block on its site in North End.

The Sixth Form Centre will be given £624,000 for a new teaching block, including a new library and resource centre, at its premises near The Sands.

Durham MP Gerry Steinberg welcomed the funding as "a much-needed shot-in-the-arm for education in the city".

He said: "It's very good news indeed. I've lobbied and lobbied for this money with the minister, and to come up trumps on two fronts is tremendous.

"Demand for sixth form places has meant this money was very much needed.

"It is a huge investment for education in Durham and means we will be getting state-of-the-art facilities."

Graham Oak, chairman of governors at St Leonard's, said he was absolutely delighted by the news, adding: "The school has a mixture of buildings, some much older than others.

"We have been under-resourced at sixth form level and with this funding, we are delighted to be providing a dedicated new sixth form block on the site.

"The funding process is very competitive and we have done very well to get so much."

County councillor Peter Thompson, the local education authority's governor representative at Durham Gilesgate School, said the funding was vital to improve the sixth form site.

He said: "It is very popular, drawing upwards of 800 students from as far afield as Sunderland and the dales, and that is very much down to the performance of the staff.

"We have been waiting for this news for two years now, and we are very pleased it has now come through."

The schools had to guarantee about ten per cent of the funding for their schemes as part of the bidding process. Confirmation of the funding will allow both to pursue planning permission prior to development work beginning.