New free schools planned for Swindon and Bristol in government drive

By Peter Davison

24 August 2023

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Pupils receiving their GCSE results at John Cabot Academy, part of the Cabot Learning Federation

Fifteen new free schools to open in areas where education outcomes are poorest – including Bristol and Swindon – to drive up school standards, the government has announced.

Around 12,000 young people in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the country will benefit from a wave of new free schools.

The government announced on Tuesday that 15 new free schools are set to be opened in parts of the country where education outcomes are weakest.

Free schools are funded by the government but are not run by the local authority. Instead, they are run by other organisations - most commonly academy trusts - but also industry and universities.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said: "We want to make more good school places available to families, and these 15 new free schools will bring brand new opportunities to young people from Bradford to Bristol.

"Free schools bring high standards, more choice for parents and strong links to industry – and all in the areas where those opportunities are needed most."

The schools are expected to open in three to four years' time. They include Great Stall East Academy, an all through school from ages 4 to 16 in Swindon, Lotmead Primary School in Swindon, and Cabot Sixth Form, a 16-19 school in Bristol.

Cabot Sixth Form will offer 1,000 places and be run by Cabot Learning Federation. Chief executive Steve Taylor said: “We are delighted the CLF has been chosen to develop a new post-16 free school for the South West.

“This is the culmination of a long-held ambition for the CLF, and supports our wider goal of helping the region’s young people to overcome disadvantage to fulfil their potential and enhance their life prospects.

“The DfE’s endorsement of the CLF’s bid is a welcome endorsement of our impact, and we look forward to working with them to deliver this much-needed new school.

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“Thanks to our partners for their support in the bidding process, and for the ongoing spirit of collaboration in our area.”

Great Stall East Academy and Lotmead Primary School are to be built to serve the New Eastern Villages being built in Swindon - the largest urban regeneration development within the UK with up to 12,000 new homes.

Their establishment had already been announced as part of the New Eastern Villages strategic plan.

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.