Liverpool's biggest ever school rebuilding programme has been given the go ahead.

The government has approved Liverpool city council's proposals for 'Wave 6' of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. It means work can now get underway on the next phase of the largest ever investment in the city's education.

The £350 million plan will see 24 Liverpool secondary schools being rebuilt or refurbished, in five phases by 2017, providing every young person in the city with a 21st century secondary education and boosting standards and opportunities.

Liverpool City Council Leader, Councillor Warren Bradley, said: "Building Schools for the Future is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and I'm delighted the government has given our plans the go-ahead. It's great news for Liverpool and paves the way for us to transform education at every secondary school in the city.

"Liverpool's future prosperity rests on the shoulders of our young people. It's vital we provide them with first-class, 21st century education facilities, which help them develop as confident, skilled, job-ready individuals. At the heart of our plans is a firm commitment to improve opportunities and outcomes for every pupil."

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Liverpool is included in 'Wave 2' and 'Wave 6' of the BSF programme, and work on the six 'Wave 2' projects - Gateacre and Hope; West Derby and Ernest Cookson; King David; Alsop; Cardinal Heenan and Broughton Hall; and Lower Lee schools - is already underway. But the 24 schools included in Wave 6 represent the most significant part of the BSF programme.

Liverpool's Wave 6 proposals, which are due to be completed between 2014 and 2017, include:

• The refurbishment of St John Bosco Arts College for Girls; and the establishment of an all-boys Catholic academy at De La Salle High School, as part of a £25m investment in education in the Croxteth area. Both schools will be open to non-Catholic students. St John Bosco is one of two sample schools selected by the council to demonstrate to the government the type of projects the city aims to deliver under Wave 6. It will include a new performing arts centre and two-storey building with 'learning hubs.'
• A stunning new school building, on a new site, for Archbishop Beck Catholic College, Walton. It will include a multi-million pound sports arena, which could become the venue for European and national sporting events, a theatre with retractable seating, top-class music facilities a dance and drama studio. Archbishop Beck is Liverpool's second BSF sample school.
• The co-location of city centre school Archbishop Blanch High and South Liverpool school St Hilda's High at the Innovation Park on Edge Lane. It will see the two Church of England schools becoming hi-tech 'science schools', working with more than 40 local businesses and opening up a wealth of vocational opportunities for young people.
• The establishment of Shorefields Community Comprehensive, Dingle, as a charitable trust school, supported by private sector education specialist Mouchel and Mathew Arnold Church of England High School.

(CD/GK)