A SCHEME for a free school in the New Islington area of Ancoats are going ahead as planned after gaining support from 194 families when a minimum 60 expressions of interest were needed.
We are particularly interested to hear from those who travel into the City Centre each day and wish to have a place for their children in a city schoo
New Islington School (the site is shown in the picture below) needed 60 families from the catchment area to register their interest by today, Friday 24 February. As Confidential reported last month they were at that time less than halfway to their target.
However a surge in responses saw them submit their bid to the Department for Education (DfE) this morning. If approved, it will mean the primary school could open its doors as early as September 2013.
Initial intake at the school will be 120, with 30 children per class, since 104 of the responses were from families with children in the right age range. Of the other expresions of interest, a further 51 respondents said they intended to start a family and the presence of New Islington Free School would influence their decision about remaining in the area.
Stuart Leeming, Deputy High Master at The Manchester Grammar School, which teamed up with developers Urban Splash to prepare the bid, said: “The New Islington Free School team has been delighted with the response from families in the area who have been signing up for places at the school for their children.
“The school hopes to open with classes from Reception to Year 3 in the first instance and we now have enough children registered to be able to submit our bid to the DfE on schedule.”
The news comes as a relief following concerns that plans for the school, which will be open to boys and girls, would have to be delayed by a year if there wasn’t sufficient interest.
Tom Bloxham MBE, Chairman of Urban Splash, said: “I've long had an ambition to build a new primary school in New Islington. We've already delivered hundreds of homes, workplaces, a clinic, a park and a marina and are now delighted to be making real progress towards building an inner city free school in New Islington.
“I hope the school will be a great asset to residents of both the city centre and East Manchester and will combine the academic ambitions of MGS with our own ambition of turning New Islington into one of the very best areas of Manchester. Much work is still to be done but we look forward to working with MGS and the City Council to create what I hope will be one of the best free primary schools in the city."
As a free school, New Islington School will receive its funding directly from central government, meaning it falls outside local authority control and will be run by a specially appointed Board of Governors.
Mr Leeming said: “Parents can continue to register for places through the website at newislingtonschool.com and we are particularly interested to hear from those who travel into the City Centre each day and wish to have a place for their children in a city school.”
Confidential thinks that in a city centre devoid of an adequate family infrastructure at present, the addition of this high calibre educational establishment will boost the sellability of family life in general. It's a morale boost for inner-urban living.
Site of the new school
