A BASINGSTOKE secondary school has become the first in Hampshire to be designated a specialist training school.

Brighton Hill Community College beat off fierce competition to be awarded the status. It will now receive £220,000 over four years to carry out training activities and research.

Deputy head Mark Duncan said the status "places the college at the cutting edge of educational training initiatives".

He added: "This is excellent news and reward for all the hard work we put into the bid."

Training schools are given funding to develop and share good teacher training practices.

Mr Duncan said the funding will go towards the creation of interactive teaching observatories. These will allow student and newly-qualified teachers to observe lessons using video cameras and audio equipment, without distracting the teacher in charge of the lesson.

The training teachers can also witness footage of their own teaching, which can then be shown to their university course tutors.

The observatories will be linked to partner schools Bishop Challoner and Dove House, and the national network developed by Nottingham University.

The funding was announced by schools standards minister David Miliband. He said nearly 10,000 more people are starting teacher training courses this year than in 1999/2000.

He explained that training schools provide the "high quality environment that new recruits need to develop their skills".

Mr Miliband said: "There was considerable interest from schools wishing to become training schools, and I congratulate Brighton Hill Community College on its award."

There are 166 training schools nationwide and Mr Miliband claimed they have a positive impact on experienced teachers.

He said: "Evaluation has shown that training teachers in their schools causes experienced teaching staff to be more reflective practitioners, which raises standards across the whole school and improves education for students."

It has been a successful few weeks for the Basingstoke school. Brighton Hill has also recently received the Gold Sportsmark Award and the National Healthy Schools Standard.