LIVERPOOL’S secondary schools are to be radically overhauled, after the Government backed a £335m blueprint to transform education in the city.

Jubilant city council officials last night pledged to use the “single biggest investment in education Liverpool has ever seen or will again” to rip up the rule book in terms of building design and create 24 cutting-edge schools between 2013 and 2017.

The massive shake-up, which aims to slash 3,856 surplus places, will include two Church of England secondaries – city-centre Archbishop Blanch and Sefton Park’s St Hilda’s – moving to Liverpool’s iconic Littlewoods building.

Securing the huge financial package under the Government’s Building schools For the Future (BSF) scheme is being heralded as a real coup and endorsement for the council’s masterplan to rebuild or refurbish every high school in the city – all designed to double as community facilities.

With a general election looming, the economy trying to bounce back from a recession and uncertainty over the longevity of the BSF scheme, the Daily Post understands council officials were privately bracing themselves for the prospect of having to scale down its plans.

Last night, Liverpool council leader Cllr Warren Bradley pledged the local authority would make the best use of the funding.

He said: “Liverpool’s future prosperity rests on the shoulders of our young people. It’s vital we provide them with first-class 21st-century education facilities.”

The fresh investment follows the rebuilding and refurbishment overhaul of six secondaries under a previous funding round with all work due to be finished next year. The next stage, one of the most comprehensive ever undertaken under the BSF scheme, will be done in yearly phases with the new look schools opening between 2013 and 2017.

The Daily Post can reveal that regimental classrooms and dining rooms will be scrapped in favour of more flexible “multi-use” study and dining areas allowing students doing different tasks to freely move around the school and access the latest IT equipment.

Each school will be specifically designed to reflect its strengths and specialisms, and facilities will be used as often as possible by the community and become what the council termed “centres for excellence”.

Over the next 18 months, council officials will invite bids and hunt for a consortia to carry out the project.

And pupils, staff and parents will be dubbed “champions of change” and asked to help shape the designs of the buildings.