PEOPLE in Wimborne are to have their say on a multi-million-pound scheme to rebuild the town's secondary school as the full plans are revealed.

A full planning application to demolish and rebuild Queen Elizabeth's School has now been submitted to East Dorset District Council and plans will be on show at the school at a meeting next month.

Project manager David Crudgington said: "This is going to be a school for the future. The building will be very modern and up-to-date and will offer a learning environment that all the children will benefit from."

The school learned last year it had won £33 million in funding to replace the existing buildings under the government's Schools for the Future programme.

If the planning process goes smoothly, work on the new building, to be sited next to the existing school on what is currently a rugby pitch, could start in July.

Once the new building is completed, which is expected to be at the beginning of 2009, pupils will move in and work will start to knock down the old school, which has become very run-down.

The new building will include community facilities and state-of-the-art environmentally-friendly features such as solar panels and wind turbines.

The sports pitches lost will be replaced with better facilities and the site of the existing school will become "teaching gardens" and social spaces.

In the meantime, youngsters who may not still be in education when the new school opens up will also be able to benefit as the staff plan to use the project and the way it unfolds as a valuable learning opportunity for students.

The plans will be on show at the school, along with the opportunity for people to make comments and talk to the project team, from 3.30pm to 7pm on February 5.