School aims to open 51 weeks of the year

Campaigners in Leeds have joined forces with the first free school to open in the country, in Norwich, and hope to launch their own primary in 2013.

The Free School Leeds plan is for a mainstream primary which would be “dyslexia friendly” with personalised lessons based on the needs of pupils and small class sizes of no more than 24 pupils.

Its catchment area would cover all of Leeds and it is looking for sites in either Pudsey or in the Harehills, Oakwood or Roundhay areas of the city.

The scheme is being led by Pat Payne of the Leeds and Bradford Dyslexia Association (LABDA) who has formed a partnership with the Free School Norwich, which opened earlier this month with a visit from Prime Minister David Cameron.

The school in Norfolk has pioneered an approach of staying open for parents for 51 weeks of the year – other than between Christmas and New Year – between 8.15am to 5.45pm as an extended school to provide childcare for working parents.

This will be repeated by the proposed Free School Leeds if its bid is backed next year by the Department for Education (DfE).

The school would also have only four weeks off from lessons during the summer holidays and operate on a six weeks on, two weeks off basis throughout the rest of the year.

Ms Payne submitted a bid for a free school last year which was unsuccessful. Another wave of bids have been made for free schools wanting to open in 2012 with decisions expected to be announced by the DfE next month.

The Free School Leeds plan is not part of this bidding process and will submit its plans next spring with a view to opening in 2013.

Ms Payne said: “Our school would be mainstream and we are not actively looking for pupils with dyslexia.

“But what we are saying is that our approach will mean that children with dyslexia can be identified and can reach their potential. Our staff will be trained to teach children with dyslexia. By using different approaches we will find what works for every child.”

Ms Payne warned that in mainstream schools too many pupils with dyslexia were being allowed to fall behind because their reading difficulties were not spotted or properly understood.

She believes the approach being planned at the Free School Leeds will appeal to parents of children with or without dyslexia.

The campaign is going to canvass support for their plans from parents in Leeds. Originally the plan had been to create a school which would serve both Bradford and Leeds but now it is focusing on serving pupils in Leeds.

Tania Sidney-Roberts, principal of the Free School Norwich, will help the Leeds campaign to submit its bid to the DfE next year.

“We have been asked by the department if we want to be involved in launching other free schools,” she said. “In Pat’s case she approached us and we could see straight away that the ethos of the school which she wanted to create exactly matched our own.”

She told the Yorkshire Post the school, which has opened in a Grade II listed building in Norwich city centre, was already four-times oversubscribed and the group wanted to open more free schools in the area in future.