REFINANCING a 'mortgage' for a £25 million refurbishment of Pleckgate High School will net Blackburn with Darwen Council an extra £1 million.

Pleckgate High School, Mathematics and Computing College was the first Building Schools For the Future (BSF) school in Blackburn.

Highlights of the Private Finance Initiative project include a TV studio and gardens growing banana plants.

Students, staff and the local community all had a hand in design ideas for the school before building started in January 2010 and the site was officially handed over to the school in August 2011.

Most PFI contracts contain standard provisions stating that if the debt used to finance the initial construction phase of a project can be refinanced at a lower cost, then the benefit is split between the council and the PFI contractor.

Borough resources boss, Cllr Andy Kay, said: “It is common for this debt to be refinanced sometime after the completion of construction because the risks involved in the project generally reduce at this point which means that the initial loans can be replaced by loans at a lower rate of interest.

“The approach made by the PFI contractor to refinance was made because of the historically low level of interest rates that prevail at present.

“Following preparation and thorough review of the supporting legal and financial documentation, the actual refinancing transaction took place on February 13.

“The financial gain to the council as a consequence of the refinancing exercise is £1,033,000.”

Refinancing exercises attract significant early redemption penalties as well as legal and advisory fees so the reduction in margins must be significant enough to offset these costs.

Earlier this week, it was reported staff and students at Pleckgate, once deemed ‘inadequate’ when inspectors found there to be ‘a culture of mistrust’ among staff, were now celebrating after receiving the highest Ofsted rating.

The school attained an overall ‘outstanding’ score completing a remarkable turnaround.

Following an inspection in 2013, the school was placed in special measures and ordered to improve.

But inspectors said over the last three years, Pleckgate has seen a rapid transformation under new headteacher, Mark Cocker.

In 2016, the school converted to an academy and became part of the Education Partnership Trust.

In its last Ofsted inspection in March 2015, it was deemed to ‘require improvement' – the second lowest rating possible, one up from its 2013 score.

But after winning an Educational Outcomes Award in 2017, meaning it was among the best performing secondary schools in the country, it was hailed as a ‘beacon of success’ by the Department of Education.