A WINNER has been chosen in the region's first secondary school competition.

Education providers were invited last year to put forward proposals for the new 1,350-place secondary school to replace Kings Manor School and Hall Garth Community Arts College in Middlesbrough.

The existing Acklam schools will close and the new school, on the existing Hall Drive site, will open in the existing buildings next year, with the new accommodation set for completion in 2012.

The bid put forward by The Endeavour Educational Trust, a partnership of Macmillan Academy, Middlesbrough College and Teesside University was chosen by the councils Executive on Wednesday.

The competition, under the towns £100 million Building Schools for the Future programme, was the first of its kind in the North of England.

It followed a Government drive to create a wider choice of schools provided by a greater range of organisations.

The new school will be self-governing, giving it a greater degree of freedom and enabling the raising of educational standards for students.

Three organisations submitted bids to run the new school including the Acklam Community Education Group, comprising parents and residents working in partnership with Cleveland College of Art and Design and a local mosque.

The other two were the Endeavour Educational Trust and the Emmanuel Schools Foundation, which runs a number of schools in the region including Kings Academy.

After the bids were assessed and scored against a range of key criteria, Endeavour proposal was recommended which was unanimously passed by the executive.

The proposed Trust school would have a joint specialism in arts and sports.

It will also be asked to explore the possibility of working with the Acklam Community Education Group on their proposals for developing community links.

Middlesbroughs Mayor, Ray Mallon, said: "This is about a step change in the provision of education across the town, ranging from academic attainment to the attainment of overall respect and good citizenship.

"All of these are vital ingredients to the life chances of our young people.

"Therefore it is imperative that the community has a say and is heard by a new governing body."

"It will be the school and community working in partnership who make this new venture a success," he added.