A SOUTH Dorset school has scooped a national award for placing itself at the heart of the community.

The Royal Manor Arts College on Portland won the Future Vision Tour Award for building links with feeder schools and the people living on the island.

Now a 60-strong party of national business leaders, educationalists and Government delegates is visiting the school on Wednesday to see its innovative community work and efforts to achieve educational excellence.

Royal Manor is one of only a handful of schools nationwide to achieve the recognition from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust - and one of only three to achieve recognition for its "group" work with other schools and the community.

Headteacher Paul Green said: "The unique vision the headteachers on Portland are developing represents a step-change in educational provision in the town.

"We have worked closely together for many years and all headteachers have an equal voice, regardless of which phase of education they represent.

"At the heart of all we do is the understanding that we are all working for the benefit of the same children and those children deserve the very best on offer."

The party of business leaders, education experts and Government officials are embarking on a national tour of school which have gained the awards.

Pupils from Royal Manor School will be welcoming the delegates to Portland with a production at the Portland Spa theatre tomorrow night based on a "water theme".

There will then be a meal for 100 people, including community leaders and school supporters, in the Spa's Orchid restaurant made from local produce.

The party will then visit Royal Manor, other schools and the sailing academy the next day.

The trust hailed Royal Manor for being involved in a "host of community projects, including developing the Fusion Project, which offers solutions to parenting issues. The school - along with other schools in the Portland area - has piloted the trust's Community Engagement Project. This encourages parents and students to help develop the "type of community they want to see".

Royal Manor has developed links with the Bridge Academy in Hackney, which has a multi-cultural intake and is closely linked to the London Olympics. The trust said that by working with Southwell Primary School, it has helped it to forge a partnership with Dairy Meadow Primary School in Southall, London.

The visit and recognition comes amid plans to merge all the schools on Portland into one academy educating youngsters from the moment they start school to their teenage exams.

The trust is part-funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, delivering the Government's specialist schools and academies programme.