A rural comprehensive school has been chosen by the Government for a ground-breaking experiment aimed at lightening the load for teachers.

Icknield Community College in Watlington has been named one of 32 'launchpad' schools nationwide by the Education Secretary Estelle Morris for a trial.

It applied to join the £4m experiment, and is the only one in Oxfordshire to be selected. The trial could bring tens of thousands of pounds of funding to the 550-pupil secondary school.

All 35 teachers will get a laptop computer with Internet access.

One of the aims of the experiment will be to reduce the amount of routine paperwork for teachers -- such as registration, marking and writing reports -- by deploying classroom assistants and introducing more computer technology.

Icknield headteacher Paula Taylor-Moore said: "Staff are keen to help the college reduce the workload on teachers, and we are a good example of a small rural school that can do that.

"Schools in rural areas have problems just like those in large urban areas.

"We will look at ways in which workloads can be redistributed so teachers can spend more time with kids in the classrooms.

"We have a young staff and are looking forward to taking part. If it works it could be a very worthwhile experiment."

If the trial is successful, the Department for Education and Skills belives it could avert the threat of industrial action by more than half a million teachers in England and Wales in the autumn. Teachers have already voted to give themselves the power to hold ballots on working a strict 35-hour week, as granted to teachers in Scotland -- an idea Ms Morris has dismissed as "potty".

School standards minister Stephen Timms said: "We must remodel the school workforce to explore more thoroughly the contributions that can be made by teaching assistants, bursars and clerical staff, technicians and ancillary staff."