HORSFORTH School has been chosen to open a new 1200 place sixth form centre in the largest wave of free school approvals this Parliament.

 

The new centre for North West Leeds will also allow Horsforth to increase its intake by an extra 50 pupils per year, taking pressure off admissions lower down the school.

 

In its first year the centre will create 400 places for Year 12 students - rising to 1200 when it reaches full capacity. It is hoped the sixth form centre will be based in Horsforth, although responsibility for acquiring a site will be with the Department for Education and the Education Funding Agency.

 

In a statement issued after it was chosen by the Department for Education, the school says: "The new Sixth Form Centre will be run by Horsforth School who already has a proven track record for delivering excellent academic results and has an existing 'outstanding' Ofsted rated Sixth Form.

 

"The brand new Sixth Form Centre will offer a highly academic curriculum, personalised support, tailored careers’ advice including work experience with great employer links and UCAS application support. In addition, the Sixth Form Centre will provide varied enrichment opportunities to make students stand out from the crowd."

 

Horsforth headteacher Dr. Paul Bell added: "We are delighted that we’ve been successful in our Sixth Form Free School bid. The new Sixth Form Centre will allow more students to access outstanding Post 16 provision and go some way to ease the pressure on Year 7 places at Horsforth School, as our admission numbers will increase. This is a really exciting time for us and we can’t wait to get our plans underway."

 

Horsforth School was opened in 1972 and has more than 1400 students. With the opening of the new sixth form centre it is hoping to increase its year seven admission numbers from 225 to 275. It has not yet been confirmed when the new centre will open and Horsforth is working closely with the Department for Education on this. The centre is expected to reach full capacity within three to four years of opening.

 

In the latest wave of approvals the Department for Education has agreed applications for 131 new free schools, creating more than 69,000 places. The department says the new schools will be led by high-performing institutions