EDUCATION chiefs are bidding for their share of £7 billion promised to rebuild rundown primary schools across England and Wales.

City of York Council officials will be coming up with their plans on how they could put to use a possible share of the money, which Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has set aside for an ambitious nationwide scheme.

Ms Kelly yesterday unveiled plans to knock down and rebuild up to 1,000 schools across the country, with the promise of facelifts for a further 8,000.

York education chief Coun Carol Runciman said it was a "great opportunity" for the city, and wheels will now be set in motion to submit the best bid possible.

She said: "The reason we should get the money is we have a very good record for making things happen. If we are allocated funding, we spend it quickly and turn projects around to time.

"However, it may be the case that it is allocated to poorer inner city areas. We will just have to keep our fingers crossed, and wait and see."

There are 72 local authority primary schools with more than 24,000 pupils in the city of York area.

In January, the second of York's new build Private Finance Initiative (PFI) primary schools opened - the £4 million St Oswald's, in Fulford.

At the start of the this term, the 300 pupils at St Oswald's, in Heslington Lane, will be going back to a new building and a new public library on the site.

St Oswald's is one of four new York schools being built as part of the PFI scheme with East Riding based firm Sewells. The total cost of the PFI projects is £17 million.

The completion of building followed the opening of St Barnabas' School, off Leeman Road, in December, while the Hob Moor Children's Centre is expected to be ready in time for Easter.

In total, the PFI schools will cater for 1,100 youngsters.

The new flagship children's centre at Hob Moor in Acomb will be the first of its kind in the country to house a special school and mainstream primary school under one roof.

It will replace Hob Moor Primary School and Hob Moor Oaks special needs school. The special and primary schools will have separate head teachers, staff and classes and are set to be completed by April.

North Yorkshire County Council, which oversees 328 primary schools, eight of which have been rebuilt in the last ten years, is also set to submit a bid.

Bernadette Jones, the authority's head of policy and development, said: "We have had quite a lot of money from the Government to do various repairs over the years, but not on the scale of other local authorities.

"Some of the schools are old and Victorian, but they are still substantial. We welcome any funding we can get."

All local education authorities have until the summer to submit their bids, and should hear back some time in the autumn.

Updated: 09:40 Saturday, March 11, 2006