PARENTS are to be asked to chip in with ideas on how to raise £90,000 towards the cost of building a new village school.

Governors and staff at St Thomas' Primary School, Barrowford, have been told the school will have to find 15 per cent of the £850,000 estimated cost of the new school.

It will be built on a new site in the village, although the land has not yet been earmarked. It is not clear what will happen to the existing buildings and land.

A meeting with parents has been arranged for next month to gather fund-raising ideas.

The Church school is fourth on a list of new school projects in Lancashire but it is not clear when the education authority will have enough money in its budget to give the Barrowford scheme the go ahead next year.

The Reverend Brian Morgan, Vicar of St Thomas' Church, said: "It all depends on how much money is available. There may only be enough to allow the first two schools on the list to be built in which case we will move up the list and we will have to wait until the following year.

"Having said that we want to start raising money now because we have to contribute quite a lot towards the cost of the new school. We have to go ahead assuming we will be accepted."

St Thomas', which has 114 pupils, is a popular school which has outgrown its Victorian buildings. The design of the school is unsuitable for modern teaching, with children having to walk through one classroom to get to another, and with no suitable space for music lessons.

"It was all right for Victoria's day but it doesn't meet needs of the modern curriculum," said Mr Morgan. "The teachers do a marvellous job but the school is not suitable any more."

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