NEW Islington Free School has now been approved and will be created in partnership with one of Manchester’s oldest schools – The Manchester Grammar School, working with Urban Splash.
"Our founder Hugh Oldham was believed to have been born in Ancoats. So it is especially important for MGS that we shall be establishing a school in Ancoats in time for our 500th anniversary in 2015."
The new primary school will be a Free School which means it will be funded in full by central government but controlled and run by an independent exempt charity working through a board of governors.
An application was lodged with the Department of Education (DfE) in February 2012 with a view to the school opening in September 2013 or September 2014.
The partners were interviewed by DfE during April and given the go ahead to progress to the next phase. Discussions are on-going with the DfE with a view to signing a funding agreement at the start of the new academic year in September.
MGS will be responsible for the curriculum for the School, the appointment of the Head Teacher and the academic staff, and leadership of the governing body. Urban Splash will coordinate the capital development in partnership with the Homes and Communities Agency and Manchester City Council.
Dr Christopher Ray, High Master of Manchester Grammar School, said: “The Manchester Grammar School is delighted that the Department for Education has accepted the need for a Free Primary School in New Islington. Our founder Hugh Oldham was a local boy believed to have been born in Ancoats in the fifteenth century.
"So it is especially important for MGS that, together with Urban Splash and our other partners, we shall be establishing a school in the New Islington area of Ancoats in time for our 500th anniversary in 2015. We are determined to provide a first-rate and challenging education for children in this part of Manchester, and in the words of our motto, daring them to be wise.”
Manchester City Council leader, Sir Richard Leese, said: "It has long been one of our goals to have a primary school in New Islington and it's great news for families already living in the area, and for those who move into it, that this vision is now a reality. We're confident that the new school, through this innovative partnership, is going to help make New Islington an even more attractive place to live, and it will also help us meet the growing demand for primary school places in the city.”
Manchester Grammar School
The School: The Brief: The Ambition
The school will aim to deliver a first rate primary education with the curriculum and staffing being under the aegis of MGS. It will provide a focus of educational excellence in the city centre that will attract families who may otherwise move out to the suburbs as well children from families already resident in the area immediately surrounding the proposed site. It will be a nucleus around which the community will grow with extended opening hours welcoming children and adults alike to play as well as study.
The school will be mixed (boys and girls) and comprehensive (non-selective on academic grounds) in its intake. It will provide high quality education drawing on the best principles of MGS delivered in and adapted for a different context; it will not be a clone of MGS. There is expected to be contact between the schools at all levels though.
Parents of children who will be of Reception age (4 years) through to Year 5 (9 years) in September 2013 are invited to get in touch to register that interest. They can do that via links on the websites of Urban Splash or MGS. Three priority catchments have been identified; the residential area immediately surrounding the School in New Islington, the residential areas immediately adjacent to New Islington and children of commuters who work in the city centre.
To register interest and find out more about the New Islington Free School please go to www.newislingtonschool.com
