Religious free schools to open in September

Three religious schools will be among the eight new free schools opening their doors for the start of the next academic year in September.

Under the free schools scheme, parents, charities or companies can set up their own schools within the state education system but outside the control of the local council.

The Department for Education received 323 applications to open free schools prior to the deadline in February.

Eight of the proposals have entered into a funding agreement with the Secretary of State, with more expected to follow at a later stage.

The funding agreement is the green light needed to start accepting pupils for the next term.

The three religious schools that will be up and running by September are St Luke’s Church of England Primary School in Camden, a new Jewish school in Haringey, Eden Primary, and Nishkam Free School, which will teach with a Sikh ethos Birmingham.

Education Secretary Michael Gove is happy with the number of free schools being set up in the first year of the programme.

He told Channel 4 News: “Less than 15 months after the legislation was passed that enabled free schools to be set up, we are going to have more than 10 of them being established and we will have more flowing on from those.

“If you look historically at the rate of school creation, it’s phenomenal.”