Gove names 16 free school proposals to reach business case stage
The Education Secretary has today unveiled details of the first 16 free school proposals that will move forward to the business case and planning stage with a view to opening in September 2011.
In a written ministerial statement, Michael Gove said: “The proposals I have agreed to move forward represent a diverse mix: there are parent-led, community-led, sponsor-led and teacher-led proposals; there are faith and non-faith proposals; there are proposals for large secondary schools and for small primary schools.”
The minister said all of the proposals had been driven by demand from local people for improved choice.
He acknowledged that the timescale for opening in September 2011 was challenging, and that “some groups may decide that it is preferable to open at a later date for practical reasons”.
The groups behind the 16 proposals would now receive support from the department to progress through the next stage. “Proposers will need to make a fully detailed business case for the new school and set out their plans for opening and operating the proposed school," the Education Secretary said.
The minister will make an assessment on this business case before allowing a new school to set up.
Gove added that the Department for Education had received “a number of promising proposals” for 2012 and 2013, and claimed that “new proposals are frequently being submitted”.
“We want it to be open to a diverse range of groups to come forward with proposals which meet the needs of their local area, and for proposals to progress at the pace which is right for both proposers and for parents and young people in the local area,” he said.
The 16 proposals approved to go forward to business case and plan stage are:
- Bedford and Kempston Free School, Bedford Borough
- The Childcare Company, Slough
- Discovery New School, West Sussex
- The Free School Norwich, Norfolk
- Haringey Jewish Primary School, Haringey
- I-Foundation Primary School, Leicester
- King’s Science Academy, Bradford
- Mill Hill Jewish Primary School, Barnet
- Nishkam Education Trust, Birmingham
- North Westminster Free School (ARK), Westminster
- Priors Marston and Priors Hardwick School, Warwickshire
- Rivendale Free School, Hammersmith and Fulham
- St. Luke’s School, Camden
- Stour Valley Community School, Suffolk
- West London Free School, Ealing or Hammersmith and Fulham
- Wormholt North Hammersmith Free School (ARK), Hammersmith and Fulham (to be known as Burlington Primary Academy)
The free schools announcement comes a few days after the Education Secretary revealed that 142 schools would become academies following the passing of the Academies Act.
Of these, 32 opened last week. The remaining 110 have had academy orders signed, which will allow them to convert over the coming months. Academy status means they will no longer be maintained by the local authority, but receive their funding centrally.
There were seven primary schools in the list, becoming the first such schools to adopt academy status.
Graham Burns, a director at TPP Law who advised on the launch of one of the new-style academies (Tollbar Academy in North East Lincolnshire), said: "This is frontier work with new legal structures and new contractual relationships being developed for this new style of school.”
