The Secretary of State for Education has approved a proposal made by a local charity, the Chapel St Community Schools Trust, to open a new primary school for Merton and Kingston under the government’s Free School programme.
The school will be known as Park Community School and serve families in Raynes Park, Mostpur Park and the surrounding area. Park Community School will provide outstanding teaching and learning for children, enriching the lives of local families and enhancing the wider community.
Park Community School will offer a unique approach to education, providing children with a creative curriculum, equipping parents and carers to play a key role in their child’s learning and enabling the whole community to invest in the life of the school.
Park Community School will offer 60 Reception Year places upon opening in September 2014. Over 150 families have already expressed a desire to send their child to the school. During the next seven years, Park Community School will provide 420 primary extra places to local children.
Chapel St is partnering with a range of local organisations including, the University of Roehampton, YMCA, The Salvation Army, Doxa Deo Church and King’s College School, to create the school. Park Community School will specialise in Music and English and will have an inclusive Christian ethos, sharing hospitality with students, parents and carers of all faiths and no faith and serving as a dynamic educational hub for the whole community.
Initially conceived as Raynes Park Community School, the need to provide new primary places in Raynes Park, Motspur Park and the surrounding area has led Chapel St and community partners to rename the school Park Community School. The proposed site and location for Park Community School will be announced shortly.
Chapel St are currently working with local communities to develop community schools through the government’s Free Schools and academies programme. Chapel St opened Atherton Community School, Greater Manchester’s first Free School, in 2012 and are due to open their second school in Oxford in September. In 2014, Chapel St looks forward to opening schools in London and Burnley.
Dr Russell Rook (Chapel St CEO) commented, ‘We are delighted that the application for Park Community School has been successful. As a local parent I’m aware of the anxiety that families feel when it comes to finding a good school. At Chapel St we believe it takes a community to raise a child and so we are working with leaders, educationalists, charities, churches and community groups to create the community school that local parents desire and our children deserve.”
With the application approved, the team will now be working hard with the Department for Education and the local community in the implementation of Park Community School. We would be delighted to hear from anyone interested in getting involved or who wished to find out more.
For more information:
Visit the school web site or email: [email protected]
For Press enquiries:
John Cunningham (Chapel St Media and Press Officer). Tel: 07970 867157
Email: [email protected]
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