AMBITIOUS plans to transform Folkestone’s Channel School into an independent specialist academy have been unveiled by county education chiefs.

If successful, the proposal would see an entirely new school built on the existing site at Park Farm Road.

The bid to convert the school has secured the backing of the Folkestone-based SAGA Group, which has agreed to pump £2million of sponsorship money into the plan and will have a key role in running the school.

The project is being supported by the Kings School in Canterbury, one of the country’s top independent fee-paying schools.

Kent County Council has already cleared the first hurdle in getting Government approval for the scheme. Ministers have told education chiefs to go ahead with a feasibility study for the new school, which it is hoped will specialise in the visual arts and modern languages.

County education chiefs believe that converting the school into an academy will help reverse its fortunes and lift standards.

The school was failed by Ofsted in December and placed in special measures after inspectors criticised the quality of teaching, pupils’ behaviour and standards of achievement.

Cllr Paul Carter, KCC's cabinet member for education, said the initiative demonstrated KCC’s commitment to find “radical solutions” to schools in challenging circumstances.

Roger De Haan, the chairman of SAGA, said: “This is a wonderful opportunity to create a new school in Folkestone that will combine a stimulating environment with a superb range of teaching amenities.

"I believe this will lay the foundations for a successful school with well-motivated students. I hope the academy will play an important part in the regeneration of the town.”

The new school for 11-to18-year-old pupils could be open by 2006 but will have to be removed from special measures before the Government gives final approval.

Academies are funded directly by the Government, rather than the local education authority, and must also have private sponsors.

These sponsors play an important part in providing money for new facilities and in the long-term, running the school.