Peterborough: First Free School To Open

11 October 2011, 06:00

Peterborough's first free school will open in September 2012.

Called The City of Peterborough Academy, it will be open to everyone, be outside of local council control and be funded by the state.

It will open on the site of the old Hereward College on Reeves Way.

In its first year, the school will only take in 180 year seven pupils from the Peterborough area, with priority given to children who live closest to the site.

Each year afterwards, the school will get a new intake of year seven pupils until it reaches its capacity of 1,100 11 to 18 year olds.

The new school will be run on a not-for-profit basis by the Greenwood Dale Foundation Trust, which also runs academies in Nottingham, Northampton and Lincoln.

Barry Day, Chief Executive of the Greenwood Dale Foundation Trust, said that he was "delighted this bid had been successful" and that "this new school gave parents an additional choice for September next year."

All year six pupils in schools across Peterborough will be "offered the opportunity a place" at the new school.

An application for a special school for 90 pupils on the same site has also been sent in to the government.

A decision on that application is expected by the end of November this year.