The North-East Muslim community has raised more than £500,000 to open the region's first Islamic school.

Muslim leaders are hoping to turn former NHS buildings on the corner of Western Avenue and Grainger Park Road in Fenham, Newcastle, into an independent secondary school, that could cater for up to 1,000 pupils.

The money for the project has been raised by donations from members of Newcastle's West End Muslim community, and loans from businesses and organisations across Britain.

It will be run with a Muslim ethos, including a traditional Masjid (prayer room), but will also accept pupils of other faiths. A spokesman for the Newcastle scheme said: "This will benefit the whole community because it will teach our children to the highest standards.

"We expect to start with hundreds of pupils and for the numbers to gradually increase over the first few years. "It will take time for people to trust us and move their children out of the schools they are in now.

"There is a long way to go yet before we can even start the school, there are hundreds of application forms to fill in, there are still many doors to go through."

There are currently around 40 Muslim schools in Britain, mainly around Manchester, Birmingham Yorkshire and London.

They are independently run and usually teach the National Curriculum, as well as the specialist subjects of Islamic Studies, Arabic and the Koran.

According to recent census figures there are 9,430 Muslims living in Newcastle, with a total of 26,925 in the North East.

Newcastle City Council confirmed it will be a private school and not under LEA control.