Thursday 13 October 2011

Alban City School Announces Open Days for Prospective Parents

Plans for a new Free School in St Albans city centre received government approval on 10 October 2011. The Department for Education has approved the opening of a free school in St Albans in September 2012, providing 60 reception places only in 2012, and then 60 reception places each year thereafter.  

The proposals were put forward by the free school group which is made up of a number of educationalists and local parents and fully supported by Hertfordshire County Council, who purchased the former School of Law site on Hatfield Road to accommodate this new school at a city centre location. The free school group has announced a number of open days as they are keen to encourage prospective parents and their children to visit the site and meet the free school group. 

Tuesday 1st November - 9.30am, 11.30am, 2pm
Monday 7th November - 8pm
Sunday 20th November - 10am, 12pm, 3pm
Monday 28th November - 11am, 1.30pm
Thursday 8th December - 8pm

The school will welcome children of all abilities, faiths, social and cultural backgrounds. Any parent can apply for a place at the school and admissions will be managed by Hertfordshire County Council following the same admissions rules as all other community primary schools in St. Albans. The application process for reception places for September 2012 will open on 14 November 2011 and close on 15 January 2012 and can be made through the county council web site at www.hertsdirect.org (paper application forms can be obtained by contacting the customer service centre).



Frances Button, Executive Member for Education at Hertfordshire County Council, said “This is excellent news for many young children and their families in St Albans.  This school will provide 60 additional primary school places for 2012 in the city centre, an area where we have been working with local parents to address the consistent pressure for additional places. We recognise that there have been concerns locally particularly regarding traffic and parking and I know that these are being considered in the plans. We fully support this group of professionals who are giving their time for free to support the development of this new school.”


The free school group is being lead by Linda Crawley, the former head teacher of Aboyne Lodge, an outstanding and oversubscribed community primary school in central St. Albans.  She said, “We are delighted that this project has been given the go-ahead by the Department for Education.  We are truly committed to establishing a wonderful new school which will provide a supportive environment within which our children can learn and thrive.  I would urge all parents of young children living in St Albans to come along to one of our prospective parent open evenings.”

For further information about the open days visit the school’s website 

NOTES
Free Schools are all-ability state-funded schools set up in response to what local people say they want and need in order to improve education for children in their community.  For further information please visit the Department for Education’s Website.
The post of head teacher will be advertised through Hertfordshire County Council’s website www.hertsdirect.org and the Times Educational Supplement website.  Prospective applicants can also contact Alban City School directly for further information.

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