Free schools: 55 to open this month 鈥� twice as many as this time last year
Fifty-five new free schools will open in September 2012. They will raise standards and increase choice for parents.
The government has today announced that 55 new free schools will open this September. The first 24 free schools opened in September 2011 while a further 114 have been approved to open in 2013 and beyond.
Free schools aim to achieve higher standards and offer a genuine alternative. They are funded by the government but have greater freedoms than local authority-run schools. They are run by teachers - not local councils or Westminster politicians - and have freedom over the length of the school day and term, the curriculum and how they spend their money.
The schools opening this month include:
- Dixon鈥檚 Music Primary Academy, in Bradford, which is the first specialist music primary school in England.
- Everton in the Community Free School, on Merseyside. The alternative provision school is being run by Everton Football Club and will cater for pupils aged 14 to 19 not in mainstream education.
- Bilingual Primary School, in Brighton & Hove, will be the first bilingual Free School in England, specialising in English and Spanish.
- School 21, in Newham, east London, is a teacher-led all-through Free School, including a sixth-form, in an area of significant deprivation. One of the founder members, and the executive head teacher, is Peter Hyman, previously a speech-writer for ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair.
- Rosewood Special Free School, in Southampton. A special school for children who have Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities.
- Tiger Primary School, in Maidstone, Kent, where all children will learn Mandarin and a musical instrument.
- Perry Beeches II The Free School, in Birmingham, is a new 11-18 Free School set up by an existing outstanding secondary school, Perry Beeches The Academy. The academy鈥檚 head, Liam Nolan, turned round the school鈥檚 performance from 21% of pupils achieving five A* to C GCSEs including English and maths in 2007 to 77% this year.
- London Academy of Excellence, in Newham, east London. This is a sixth-form free school which is being run by eight leading independent schools including Brighton College and Eton College.
Of the new free schools opening this September:
- 19 are primary schools, 19 are secondary schools and seven are all-age schools. There is one 14-to-19 school and one 16-to-19 school. Five are alternative provision schools - the first free schools of their type - and three are special schools.
- The schools are spread across England. They are primarily concentrated in areas of deprivation or areas where there is a shortage of school places. 25 of the 55 schools are located in the most deprived 25% of communities in the country. 33 of the schools are in areas where there is need for more school places.
- 12 have been set up by teachers, 19 by parent or community groups, 9 by charities and 13 are set up by existing education providers. Two existing independent schools will join the state sector as free schools.
Education Secretary Michael Gove said:
Every child should have the choice to go to an excellent local school. These new schools have been set up by idealistic people who are determined to give parents the kind of choice that only the rich can currently afford. The first 24 free schools are enormously popular and I expect this second wave to be equally successful.
Liam Nolan, executive head teacher of Perry Beeches II, Birmingham, said:
This is a fabulous opportunity for us to expand our brand of success into a new community and to work with a new group of young people in the heart of Birmingham. This is one of the beauties of free schools, that the very best schools can extend their outstanding practice.
Marina Gutierrez, Chair of the Bilingual Primary School Trust, Brighton, said:
I am delighted that this project has now become a reality and that Brighton & Hove鈥檚 children will have bilingualism as an educational choice.
Free schools have proved hugely popular with parents. All 24 which opened last year have filled, or almost filled, all their places for this year. Many have expanded to meet demand and many have large waiting lists.
New York charter schools, one of the inspirations behind free schools, have been shown to substantially narrow the attainment gap between rich and poor - by 86% in maths and 66% in English. In Chicago they halve the achievement gap between inner-city students and their wealthier suburban counterparts.
In England academies, which have the same freedoms as free schools, improve at a faster rate to state secondary schools - between 2010 and 2011 the proportion of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at A* to C including English and maths rose by 5.7 per cent in academies, compared to 3.1 per cent in state secondary schools.
This press notice relates to England only.
聽Notes to editors
- The list of free schools opening in September 2012:
| Name | Location | Type< |
| Al Madinah Free School聽 | 顿别谤产测听 | All through聽 |
| Alban City Free School聽 | St Albans | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| ARK Bolingbroke | Wandsworth | 厂别肠辞苍诲补谤测听 |
| Atherton Free School聽 | Wigan | Secondary |
| Avanti House聽 | 贬补谤谤辞飞听 | All through聽 |
| Barrow 1618聽 | 叠补谤谤辞飞听 | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| Beccles Free School聽 | Carlton Colville, Suffolk聽 | Secondary |
| Becket Keys Church School聽 | Brentwood | 厂别肠辞苍诲补谤测听 |
| Bedford Free School聽 | 叠别诲蹿辞谤诲听 | Secondary |
| Bilingual Primary School | Brighton &Hove聽 | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| CET 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 | Tower Hamlets聽 | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| CET 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 | 奥别蝉迟尘颈苍蝉迟别谤听 | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| City Gateway聽 | Tower Hamlets聽 | 础笔听 |
| City of Peterborough Academy聽 | Peterborough | 厂辫别肠颈补濒听 |
| Cobham Free School聽 | Cobham | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| Corby Technical School | Corby | 厂别肠辞苍诲补谤测听 |
| Cramlington Learning Village | Cramlington, Northum鈥檒and | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| Derby Pride Academy | 顿别谤产测听 | 础笔听 |
| Dixons Music 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 | 叠谤补诲蹿辞谤诲听 | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| Dixons Trinity Academy | 叠谤补诲蹿辞谤诲听 | Secondary |
| East Birmingham Network聽 | 叠颈谤尘颈苍驳丑补尘听 | 础笔听 |
| Emmanuel Community School | Waltham Forest | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| Enfield Heights Academy | Enfield | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| Europa School UK | Culham, Oxfordshire | All through聽 |
| Everton in the Community聽 | 尝颈惫别谤辫辞辞濒听 | 础笔听 |
| Gateway Primary Free School聽 | Tilbury | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| Grindon Hall聽 | Sunderland | All through聽 |
| Harpenden Free School聽 | Harpenden | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| Harris Free School聽 | Peckham | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| Hartsbrook E-ACT Free School聽 | Haringey | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| Hatfield Community Primary School | Hatfield | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| IES Breckland Free School聽 | Brandon, Suffolk聽 | Secondary |
| Kingfisher Hall Primary Academy | Enfield | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| King's Leadership Academy聽 | Warrington | 厂别肠辞苍诲补谤测听 |
| Lighthouse School | 尝别别诲蝉听 | 厂辫别肠颈补濒听 |
| London Academy of Excellence聽 | Newham | 16-19听 |
| Nishkam School Trust聽 | 叠颈谤尘颈苍驳丑补尘听 | 厂别肠辞苍诲补谤测听 |
| Oakbank School聽 | Wokingham | 厂别肠辞苍诲补谤测听 |
| Perry Beeches II聽 | 叠颈谤尘颈苍驳丑补尘听 | 厂别肠辞苍诲补谤测听 |
| Reach Academy聽 | Feltham | All through聽 |
| Rimon Jewish Primary School聽 | Golders Green聽 | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| Rosewood School聽 | 厂辞耻迟丑补尘辫迟辞苍听 | 厂辫别肠颈补濒听 |
| Rural Enterprise Academy聽 | Penkridge, Staffs聽 | 14-19听 |
| Sandymoor School聽 | Runcorn | 厂别肠辞苍诲补谤测听 |
| Saxmundham Free School聽 | Saxmundham, Suffolk聽 | 厂别肠辞苍诲补谤测听 |
| School 21聽 | Newham | All through聽 |
| Southwark Free School聽 | Southwark | 笔谤颈尘补谤测听 |
| St Michael's Catholic School聽 | Camborne, Cornwall聽 | Secondary |
| Steiner Academy | Frome | All through聽 |
| Stone Soup Learns | 狈辞迟迟颈苍驳丑补尘听 | AP |
| Tauheedul Free School | Blackburn | Secondary |
| The Greenwich Free School聽 | Greenwich | Secondary |
| The Hawthorne's Free School | Liverpool | Secondary |
| Tiger Primary School聽 | Maidstone | Primary |
| Wapping High School聽 | Wapping | Secondary |
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Groups that were successful in applying to open a Free School went through a robust process to make sure they were suitable and capable to run a school. They had to: * provide evidence of demand for the particular new local school they wanted to set up; * set out in detail the curriculum the school would offer, the type of teachers it would recruit, and how the school would run its pupil admissions to make sure they are fair; * develop robust plans for how the school planned to run its finances (which then were scrutinised to make sure the school was financially viable); * secure an appropriate site for the school that provided value for money for the taxpayer; and * be CRB checked and undergo in-depth vetting by the Department鈥檚 Due Diligence Unit.
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Like other state-funded schools, free schools are inspected by Ofsted, will have their exam and test results published and will have to teach a broad and balanced curriculum. Action will be taken if results slip or if teaching isn鈥檛 up to scratch. Free schools also have to abide by the same rules for pupil admissions as other schools - making sure that these are fair and inclusive of children from different backgrounds.
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Applications to open free schools in 2014 (or later) must be submitted to the Department for Education between Monday 17 December 2012 and Friday 4 January 2013.
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Further details on the Free Schools programme can be found online at .
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