THE first new school sixth form to be created in North Staffordshire and South Cheshire for at least a decade has attracted more than 100 students.

Teenagers had their first taste of lessons in the £7.3 million post-16 centre at Brine Leas High School, in Nantwich, yesterday.

It has been designed as a self-contained campus, with specialist and general classrooms, a coffee shop, and informal internet cafe-style seating areas where students can study or chat.

Among the impressive features is a media suite, which comes complete with a green screen, recording equipment and a stylish spiral staircase leading up to a teaching space.

Young people can also stroll out on to their own sixth form courtyard or soak up the views from the building's three-storey atrium.

Headteacher Andrew Cliffe, pictured below, described the centre as "superb" and said it had been created on the back of parental and student demand.

More than 90 of the 210 teenagers who took GCSEs at Brine Leas this summer have decided to stay on at the school.

It has also attracted a few students from other Cheshire schools, including the private sector. The centre can cater for up to 300 teenagers across Years 12 and 13.

They can do a range of A-levels, BTECs and diplomas this year. In the long term, the school is also considering offering more unusual courses, such as the Cambridge Pre-U, which was developed by Cambridge University as an alternative to A-levels and has more emphasis on final exams.

And there could even be some foundation degrees offered there in future.

Hannah Valentine, from Nantwich, is among the first intake and is just starting A-levels in business studies, photography, textiles and psychology.

The 16-year-old said: "The building doesn't feel like a school. We've got more freedom.

"Some people are not ready to move on from school. It can seem like an enormous step. You can stay here and still do the courses you want to do."

Jordan Hallatt, aged 17, from Audlem, originally left Brine Leas after his GCSEs and began AS-levels elsewhere. But he didn't like it there and has now returned to his old school to start courses in biology, law, psychology and media from scratch.

Jordan said: "The new building is excellent. Because I already know the majority of the teachers here, it's much more welcoming."

Brine Leas is the first school in The Sentinel's circulation area to take advantage of regulations introduced by the previous Labour government.

These allow high-performing specialist schools to create their own sixth forms, with a presumption the proposals will be approved. At Brine Leas, the plans have also tied in with its work in applied learning, which has meant it can offer more vocational courses like diplomas.

The centre is one of several major changes at Brine Leas this month as it has also just converted to academy status.

But its sixth form has attracted controversy. The local authority and neighbouring schools and colleges objected to the plans, claiming there was no need for more post-16 provision and they would be competing for the same students.

Although none of the high schools in Crewe have sixth forms, Nantwich's other secondary school, Malbank, does have a big sixth form and both South Cheshire College and Reaseheath College are within striking distance.

Mr Cliffe said he hoped to collaborate with them in future.