PUPILS at Whalley Range High School for Girls are to be given a taste of the world of work, after the school was named as one of the region's first to specialise in business and enterprise.

The school will continue to follow the National Curriculum, but there will be a new focus on business designed to give girls the best start when they look for a job.

Headteacher Dame Jean Else said: "We are educating our children to become employees and the better opportunities we can put their way the more chances we are giving them.

"Every curriculum area will have access to links with business and industry. This will provide them with the most enormous overview of career opportunities and will enhance the skills they need to fit into society or any job in the future."

The government began the specialist school programme in 1994 with the introduction of technology colleges. Since then the scheme has been enlarged to include specialisms in languages, sports and the arts. And this week, for the first time, the Department for Education and Skills announced the first schools that would specialise in mathematics and computing, engineering, business and enterprise and science.

Central to Whalley Range's new business and enterprise status - which brings with it £750,000 from the government - is a partnership with the city's leading insurers, CIS.

Staff from CIS are expected to become regular visitors to the school to help with aspects of the curriculum and to act as mentors. Part of the school will be refurbished to be more like an office than a classroom.

Online

With the support of the company the school intends to put its entire curriculum online so it can be available to pupils, staff and parents on computers, in the classroom and at home. The company, along with the Sutton Trust, also sponsored the school to the tune of £50,000.

Martin Rooney, CIS's manager of human resources policy, said: "At CIS we have a passion for education. And it is logical that organisations like ours build this sort of strong link with schools.

"We will be there to assist in the delivery of the curriculum.

"And we are obviously looking forward to engaging with people who could ultimately become our future workforce or future customers.

"Our experts will be helping with IT and when it comes to career choices they will be able to explain what's involved in areas such as marketing, legal, human resources or whatever."

Elsewhere in the region, Birchwood Community High School, in Warrington, was also awarded business and enterprise status. Astley High School, in Tameside, joins the growing number of schools specialising in sport. Green Lane High School, in Timperley, and Mornington High School, in Wigan, are to specialise in the arts. Altrincham High School for Girls, in Altrincham, and Cansfield Community High School, in Wigan, will specialise in languages.

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