New £4m home for Rainbow free school

Lord Mayor of Bradford Cllr Khadim Hussain with children at the opening of the Rainbow Primary School

Rainbow Primary in Bradford has moved into a building which has been designed with a curved roof to reflect its name.

It was one of the first 24 free schools to open in the country in 2011.

For its first 18 months, it was based in a former middle school building in Manningham but has now moved onto a new site on the edge of city centre in Nelson Street which used to be Bradford’s fire station.

It was officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Coun Khadim Hussain, yesterday.

Its new home will allow the school to operate with a three form entry taking on 75 pupils each year.

The bid to set up the school was led by Bradford-based enterprise organisation ATL, formerly known as Asian Trade Link.

Amjad Pervez, a local entrepreneur and the chairman of the Rainbow Schools Trust, said: “What a fantastic achievement to bring the idea of the free school to fruition from the hopes and plans such a short time ago, and in such a wonderful setting.

“This is a truly great day, when we can see how happy and excited the children are, and how the staff and parents are already delighted with the new building after just a week.

“They have the state-of-the-art facilities which will really help them all to flourish and excel.”

Rainbow’s school day is said to be longer than most other schools, and pupils attend one Saturday every month and a week’s summer school during the holiday.

It was rated as being good in its first Ofsted inspection last year, and was the first free school in Yorkshire to achieve this accolade.

The rating applied to all areas of inspection – including the achievement of its pupils, the quality of teaching, the behaviour and safety of the children, and its leadership and management.

It was one of three to open in the region in 2011 along with the Kings Science Academy, in Bradford and Batley Grammar School which converted from the independent sector. There now 12 free schools in Yorkshire.

Free schools are a key policy of the coalition Government which is enabling new state-funded schools to be started from scratch and for private schools to convert to the public sector.