PUPILS at a York secondary school are set to benefit from new first-class science facilities, after ruling councillors gave their financial backing.

City of York Council's executive has agreed to lend Fulford School £607,000 to upgrade its buildings.

As reported in The Press last month, the money will be used to remove old temporary classrooms, and replace them with up-to-date facilities, particularly science labs.

Local councillor Keith Aspden welcomed the decision.

He said: "I am pleased to hear that the city's executive has approved the prudential borrowing requested by the head teacher and governors of Fulford School.

"The school has had excellent results in recent years and this will help to maintain those high standards whilst ensuring that staff and students have a high-quality environment in which to work."

He said the development would be a welcome addition to the recently opened Faraday Building, which already houses some facilities for the school, which specialises in maths and computing and has 1,288 pupils.

Head teacher Steve Smith recently told The Press: "We desperately need new science labs because, although we have had a new-build at the school already and two new science labs put in as part of that, we are still short of quality science labs. We are using two labs at present which really aren't suited for purpose.

They are very small and were built in the 1960s, when the needs and demands of the subject were very different from what they are today.

"At Fulford School, we have a proud record in A-Level science, particularly chemistry, and while national trends show fewer pupils are choosing to take science, that certainly isn't the case here.

For A-Level biology alone, we have three classes in Year 12 with no more than 18 in each class."

Fulford's loan application was the first of its kind, and council leader Steve Galloway called on officers to draw up a set of guidelines for any future such applications.

The executive also received an update on schemes at other York secondaries.

A report by education boss Carol Runciman said: "The new block at Huntington School is almost ready and will be opened later this month. It will provide dance, drama and community arts facilities as well as a new entrance.

"Detailed plans for Manor School have been approved and matters are progressing well. Developments at York High School are progressing well with plans already submitted. Work is expected to start on site in July 2007."

It said consultation on plans for Joseph Rowntree School had been extensive, with support from the Joseph Rowntree Trust. Teams of DfES-approved constructors are now competing for the contract.