A DEAL was reached last night to rebuild one of the region's schools after education officials agreed to underwrite the project.

The £25m project, to rebuild Durham Johnston School on a single site, will go ahead after Durham County Council agreed to find the final £6m needed for the scheme out of borrowings.

The successful school had been told it would have to wait up to ten years for its dilapidated buildings to be replaced under the Government's Building Schools For The Future programme because priority was being given to areas of high deprivation and low academic attainment.

Parents and staff were furious the popular split-site school, whose buildings date from the 1920s yet which has the highest A-level pass-rate in County Durham, was being penalised for being too successful.

The situation had become so desperate that £500,000 had been spent to repair parts of the buildings thought to be dangerous to the 1,500 pupils, including water coming through the roof onto electrical wiring, while the state of the school had emerged as election issue.

However, governors were told last night that the long-awaited work to create a single site school at Crossgate Moor would get under way in 2007, ready to take pupils in September 2008.

The school needs £25m for the work, of which £13m can be raised by the sale of surplus land when it moves into a single site, leaving a £12m shortfall.

Government rules mean that only £6m of help can be made available under the Targeted Capital Fund, although £12m can be made available in exceptional circumstances.

Councillor Neil Foster, the council's cabinet member for education, said that, following meetings with Schools Minister Stephen Twigg, the authority had been told £6m would be available.

He said the council was now prepared to borrow the other £6m to allow the scheme to start -ahead of further talks with the Government to take place after next month's General Election.

Coun Foster said: "We were able to tell the governors the good news tonight. I am delighted and so is the authority that we can finally go ahead with a brand new school."

Headteacher Caroline Roberts said: "We are absolutely thrilled.

"The school first became a comprehensive in 1979, and we have been waiting since then, so this is wonderful news. We have been waiting for a long time."