Staff ready for school opening
Teachers and staff at Telford's £70 million flagship learning community were spending Monday gearing up for the arrival of the first pupils.
The first phase of the Hadley Learning Community, a 1,200-place state-of-the-art secondary school, is due to open on Tuesday.
The secondary school is thought to be the first to have been awarded specialist engineering status before even opening.
A 420-place primary sch-ool is to open in January as part of the Private Finance Initiative project, along with a 30-place local authority nursery school and a 50-place private nursery and new children's centre.
A 152-place special school and nursery providing accommodation and resources for pupils aged between four and 19-years-old with profound and complex disabilities is also due to open in January.
Advice, information and training will be available at the site for parents, along with adult and family learning opportunities and a children's play area.
The learning community will also provide sports, arts and leisure venues for the whole community, including a learning resource centre, a heated indoor swimming pool, fitness suite, dance studio and 150-seat theatre.
Christine Davies, corporate director for children and young people at Telford and Wrekin Council, said the learning community would provide a "blueprint for the way education is delivered in the future".