A HIGH-ACHIEVING school's long-held aim to settle on a single site with modern facilities has taken a huge step forward with news of a £6m Government windfall.

Durham Johnston's re-building programme was given the boost when it featured in the first series of awards in the new Targeted Capital Fund.

The school was one of only a handful across the North-East to benefit from Education Secretary Ruth Kelly's announcement.

It adds a large chunk towards the £25m target to develop a single complex on the upper school campus, at Crossgate Moor, and brings Durham Johnston near the end of a 26-year attempt to bring its two sites together.

Headteacher Carolyn Roberts said it was marvellous news.

She said: "It has been the priority of the school since 1979, and is certainly something the governors have put a lot of time and effort into.

"Our buildings are in an awful state. To be fair, the local authority pledged themselves to rebuild no matter what, but this is the confirmation that the funding is now in place."

A new school will be developed on the Crossgate Moor site, with the Whinney Hill section of the school, serving 464 year seven and eight pupils, being sold to raise about half of the development fund.

It leaves £6m outstanding, but Durham County Council is considering borrowing to ensure the project starts as soon as possible.

Should everything go as planned, the school will open for 1,500 pupils by September 2008.

Durham Johnston's academic achievements -it features regularly among the country's top ten performing comprehensives -have inadvertently prevented the school winning funding from other sources.

Neil Foster, the county council's cabinet member for children's services, said: "Durham County Council has been determined for a number of years to end the split-site status of Durham Johnston School by building a new school on the Crossgate Moor site.

"We are pleased to receive this £6m, which will provide even greater impetus to explore all avenues to secure the funding needed for the new building."

On a smaller scale, two ageing primary schools will be able to rebuild, preferably on existing sites, thanks to the grant.

A £3.1m award will ensure Hetton Lyons Primary School can improve its facilities.

Education chiefs have pledged as little disruption as possible when the 1920s-built classrooms are replaced at its site in Four Lane Ends, Hetton-le-Hole.

Although in County Durham's boundary when built, the 471-pupil school is now overseen by Sunderland City Council, after the 1974 boundary reorganisation.

Sunderland's acting education director, Terry Walsh, said the ageing buildings have proved robust, but were not easily adaptable for modern needs.

He said: "They are typical buildings of the 1920s era.

"They will almost last forever, but they do not necessarily meet the needs of modern learning and teaching.

"It was a small secondary school originally, typical of the type you got in that area, in what was County Durham at the time, which has become a primary school."

He said it was unlikely the new buildings would be ready before September 2007.

Meanwhile, another primary school building to have seen better days will benefit from the fund.

St Joseph's RC Primary School, in Stanley, County Durham, recently described by MP Kevan Jones as Dickensian, will get £1.483m.

It will help meet the cost of expansion and improvement work.

North Durham MP Mr Jones has been a key figure in winning necessary funding to improve St Joseph's.

He put the case for extra funding in a meeting with Schools Minister Jacqui Smith during the summer.

He said: "This really is good news.

"When we met the minister, I told her I was very impressed with the standard of teaching at St Joseph's, but very concerned about the condition of the building, which is urgently in need of refurbishment.

"I am pleased the Government has listened to that message and has agreed to give St Joseph's these much-needed funds."

Headteacher Jill McBride said: "I am delighted. It is wonderful news for the pupils, the staff and everyone connected with the school."

St Joseph's, a Roman Catholic voluntary-aided school, is near the centre of Stanley, and has about 200 pupils.

The funding for all three schools comes from the £1.1bn set aside in the Government's Targeted Capital Fund, to be given out over four years.