AN ATHERTON school has become the first in the area to gain Humanities College status.

Hesketh Fletcher High will mark the achievement at a special ceremony on Monday morning.

Pupils from the faculties involved in the Humanities bid will deliver a multi media presentation to invited guests, including school governors, councillors and primary and secondary school headteachers.

Humanities encompasses the fields of art, communication, languages, literature, philosophy and religion as opposed to social, natural and physical sciences.

Governors chairman Margaret Hewitt said: "This is a tremendous honour for the school which can now move forward and build on its success."

Humanities College status is just one of many positive developments that the school has undertaken. The new school year has brought in a house system and a positive behaviour policy that is already producing and encouraging changes in the ethos of the school.