'Superschool' to be built in St John's Wood

The schools will be extensively redeveloped to provide brand new facilities and a "university-style" campus for pupils.

Located in St John's Wood, the 34,000sq metre Marlborough Hill Campus will also include children's, youth and health services, a police base, an adult learning centre, a drop-in nursery and crèche and state-of-the art sports facilities.

An outdoor parkour park and climbing facility, a 25-metre swimming pool, a portable boxing ring, a full size synthetic turf pitch, four hard outside sports courts, a 1km long running trail, an exercise dance studio and a recording studio are among the other facilities being considered.

Students and the wider community will be able to take advantage of the campus which could also include an all-age breakfast club, a town square and an outdoor amphitheatre at its centre to act as a meeting point for local residents.

It will also boast strong environmental credentials with a single central heat and power plant being shared by all the different organisations.

A solar water heating system, 'living roofs', which provide habitats for wildlife, and ground-based heat pumps are also being considered, creating a 'green oasis' in the capital.

Westminster Council's children's service boss Cllr Mark Page said: "This is a very exciting and highly ambitious scheme which we believe will transform education and community facilities in this part of London, benefiting the local community.

"Our aim is to provide the best possible start in life for every child and this campus will offer state of the art facilities for young people from nursery age right up to when they leave to go to university or join the job market.

"It's important to stress though that it's still early days and over the coming months we will be seeking a wide range of people's views on what they think of the scheme before the plans are finalised."

Public consultation on the scheme will start in July.

The council is set to submit a planning application later this year and if approved building work would begin in 2010.