A Darlington special needs school is to receive £180,000 over the next three years after being named one of the best in the country.

Beaumont Hill School is one of just three special needs schools in England and Wales and the first in the borough of Darlington to be chosen as a Leading Edge School.

The status attracts £60,000 a year for the next three years in Government funding and will place Beaumont Hill at the head of a partnership of primary schools sharing best practice in the borough.

The school, which is to be included in a new multi-million pound 'education village' with Haughton Community School and Springfield Primary School, will also be expected to form partnerships and share ideas with other schools nationally.

Headteacher Dame Dela Smith said: "We are all absolutely delighted. We feel partnerships are the way forward and that by working with other schools we can strengthen the effectiveness of what we do.

"Our new status will help us to look at the whole range of issues in our preparation for the forthcoming educational village and at our need to take an inclusive approach to meet the needs of all pupils and keep standards high."

The Leading Edge programme is a national initiative from the Department for Education and Skills. Teachers in partner schools share skills then spread them nationally by working with the department's Innovation Unit.

Beaumont Hill was invited to bid for the title because of its current status as a technology centre and its proven excellence in outreach activities and partnerships with other schools.

Coun Stephen Harker, the borough council's education cabinet member, described the news as fantastic for both the school and the town.

"It puts Beaumont Hill on the cutting edge of innovation and in an ideal position to push the boundaries of current teaching practice and partnership working."

Beaumont's partnership schools will be Haughton, Springfield, Heighington, Longfield and other primary schools in the town.