SCHOOLS across Oxfordshire are set to be transformed in a £67m improvement programme - the biggest ever undertaken in the county.

Some schools will be demolished and replaced by new buildings in a plan to modernise crumbling primary schools. Oxfordshire County Council is expecting the Government to invest £30m, with County Hall raising the rest in a phased programme over five years to create "schools fit for the 21st century".

It is viewed as a key element in a long-term strategy to improve school results, particularly in deprived areas of Oxford.

Two Oxford schools will be the first to benefit. Bayards Hill Primary School, in Barton, and Wood Farm Primary School will be demolished and new buildings built at a cost of almost £13m.

Work on the two schools could begin as early as August 2009 and be completed by the end of 2010.

Rose Hill Primary School is also set to be demolished and replaced in a later phase.

Other schools, including Pegasus Primary School and Harwell Community Primary School, will benefit from major extensions.

The opportunity will be taken to finally replace much-criticised temporary school buildings at many schools, including at Tackley and Charlton-on-Otmoor primary schools.

There is also likely to be a new primary school built in Oxford in the face of rising school numbers.

It is understood that one idea is to build the school in Oxford's West End, where hundreds of new homes will be built as part of the regeneration of the area.

The county council cabinet member for schools, Michael Waine, said: "These improvements to school buildings will support our over-arching strategy to raise standards in schools, as well as transform school buildings.

"We are also planning for expected population increases in Oxfordshire over the coming years.

"I would say the new school will be built in the centre or south-east area of the city."

He said the improvements would not be limited to schools in areas of deprivation, adding that schools doing a good job should not be "let down by crumbling buildings".

Schools that are earmarked for expansion or substantial building improvements in Oxford are: East Oxford; Rose Hill; Pegasus; and SS Mary and SS John, which is moving to one site.

Other schools on the list are: Eynsham; Harwell; Barley Hill, Thame; Charlton-on-Otmoor; Great Milton; Tackley; Launton; Peppard; The Grange, Banbury; Hornton, near Banbury; and St Andrew's and Mill Lane, both in Chinnor.

To qualify for money from the Government's Primary Capital Programme, Oxfordshire County Council had to submit a detailed strategy to raise standards and tackle underperformance.

It also had to undertake an area-by-area assessment of the state of primary school buildings.

Wood Farm headteacher David Lewin said: "Our buildings have reached the end of their natural life. They were built in the 1950s and we need a school fit for the 21st century."