PUPILS and staff at an Oxford school are celebrating after it was awarded dual specialist status.

Cheney School, in Cheney Lane, Headington, has been a specialist languages college for five years, and on Tuesday was awarded a second specialism in raising achievement.

The school will receive £60,000 a year for the specialism, which was awarded jointly by the Youth Sports Trust and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Headteacher Jolie Kirby said: "It could have been another subject specialism, but we felt we wanted a broader remit than just one subject. We also wanted an aspect of our second specialism to impact across the county.

"As a community school, we felt quite passionately we ought to be working even more closely with our partner schools and communities, and this will allow us to do that."

As part of the new specialism, students designated youth leaders' in both sports and languages will go into local primary schools and work with younger pupils.

The school has 15 language leaders, but the programme is set to be extended.

The school is also planning to do more teacher training and has been invited to become an Associate Training School for Oxfordshire.

Student council member Fran Gaskell, 14, said: "The second specialism will broaden the horizons in our learning.

"We will be able to focus on other aspects of learning which will help with our future careers."

As part of the new specialism, a student leadership conference will be held next term to discuss plans for the future of the school, including its bid for Fairtrade status.