New lower school plans considered

Year Nine students for the upper school would join the new lower school

Plans for the first stage of building a new school in the Isle of Man are to be considered by Tynwald.

The Department of Education wants permission to start work on a the new St Ninian's Lower School at Bemahague.

If approved, St Ninian's Lower School in Douglas would close and pupils would move, with upper school Year Nine students, to the new building.

The initial preparation works will cost about £433,000, Education Minister Anne Craine MHK will tell Tynwald.

St Ninian's Upper School would be for students in Years 10 to 13 and post-16 students.

The new school would have a capacity of 800 places, with core facilities for 1,100 to aid future expansion.

The Department of Education plans to bring the main scheme to Tynwald in July 2009, with the aim of opening the school in 2012, the minister said.