ST HELENS College and Edge Hill University are spearheading proposals to convert Sutton High Sports College into a multi-million pound academy.

The college and the Ormskirk-based university are behind proposals for a 1,350-pupil academy and 200 student sixth-form that would specialise in science and sport.

The aim is for the school on Elton Head Road, Sutton, to be transferred to academy status by September 2010 and that pupils use remaining and temporary classrooms until a refurbished complex is completed four years later.

St Helens Council, which controls Sutton High, has said little so far about its intentions for the school but the Star has learned proposals are moving forward.

Sutton High has struggled in recent years, receiving stinging criticism from Ofsted inspectors and although exam pass rates have improved, they are behind the local average.

In October last year, the Star revealed education chiefs were weighing up moves for the school to become an academy, believing it could help bring about significant improvement.

In a statement, St Helens College said the academy project is now ‘at the feasibility stage’.

This involves the sponsors consulting with governors, staff, students and the school’s surrounding community.

Sponsors have drawn up an ‘educational vision’ for the academy, with academic excellence in science – embracing the school’s current sports specialism – at the top of the agenda.

A big emphasis would also be placed on encouraging enterprise and developing employability of students.

And over time the sponsors hope the academy could evolve into a centre for professional development across the town.

They also have ambitions that it becomes a key centre for learning with the health sciences and offers routes to careers in the NHS.

A St Helens College statement read: “The lead sponsors have committed to working with the school to ensure their active participation, a smooth transition to the academy in September 2010 and a successful outcome for the future generations that they believe will benefit from this exciting and challenging opportunity.”

Sutton High is currently being managed by Haydock High head Stephen Fullerton after previous boss Paul Melia resigned in the summer of 2008.

ACADEMIES are state-maintained independent schools set up with the help of outside sponsors.

They are not under the direction of the local authority and the Government say their purpose is to challenge a culture of underachievement and to deliver improvements in standards.