A SCHOOL which already boasts one of the most impressive media and computer suites in the country will taken another giant step forward during the summer holidays.

Builders will start to clear a site at Turton High School for a new humanities area, a Year 11 recreation unit and an ambitious sixth form study centre equipped with reference, photocopying and internet facilities which should be completed by next January.

But the most impressive phase of the new development will be a performance studio with a specially sprung dance floor, a hi-tech sound and lighting system and a control suite linked to the school's existing television and editing studios.

Pupils will have the capacity for live broadcasting and web broadcasting.

The school will work closely with North-west Arts, the group which advised them when they were bidding for cash to build the arts and media centre.

There will also be a major landscaping programme which includes plans for a sculpture park which will be open to the public.

Headteacher Frank Vigon said: "I'm very excited about the future. I don't envisage our standing still. People tend to think of me as being a fantasist and have looked surprised when I've spoken about things like the sculpture park, but I'm confident we'll do it."

The £1.8m arts and media centre, which houses computers and sophisticated film and editing suites normally only seen at universities, opened last autumn.