City weighs up bids for two new primary schools

Leeds City Council today revealed the options on the table for two new primaries in Harehills and South Leeds.

A major national academy chain, one of the first free schools to open in Yorkshire and three separate trusts set up by existing Leeds schools have all submitted applications.

The schools would be run outside of Leeds City Council’s control either as an academy, a free school or a school within a trust.

Leeds City Council is looking to open two new schools in Harehills and South Leeds as they have been identified as areas facing a shortage of places in future years. Around 10,500 babies have been born across the city this year, meaning the Leeds schools system will need to have more than 2,000 extra spaces in place in five years time.

Rainbow Schools Trust, the sponsor of one of the country’s first free schools, which opened in Bradford earlier this year, and the Learning Trust South Leeds, a partnership of existing schools in the city, have submitted bids to run the South Leeds primary, which will be built on the site of the former South Leeds sports centre.

National schools chain Academies Enterprise Trust, which already runs almost 30 schools across the country, and Lilac Sky Schools, a national academy sponsor, have submitted bids to run two academies in both South Leeds and Harehills.

Two other existing Leeds academies have applied to run the school in Florence Street, Harehills. The Co-operative Academy and an academies trust set up by the David Young Community Academy in Seacroft both want to set up a primary academy.

The council’s executive is expected to make a decision on the bids in October. The plan is to open the Harehills school next year and the primary in South Leeds in 2014.