Everton FC To Open Free School
Everton Football Club has become the first Premier League club in the country to be granted government permission to open a free school.
The club’s community arm, Everton in the Community, which has won a Sport Industry Award in both of the last two years, will open the government-funded school and will use the power of sport to engage pupils and their wider families with an alternative learning experience.
The school, which will be located in Liverpool, is due to open in September 2012 with an initial intake of 120 pupils.
Its approval was announced in the House of Commons by Education Secretary Michael Gove.
The new Free School will aim to enhance provision and work with existing educational providers in the city.
The new establishment will be open to all young people aged 14 to 19 who would benefit from a wider range of learning styles and approaches to prepare them for the world of work.
Dr. Denise Barrett-Baxendale, chief executive of Everton in the Community, said: ‘We are absolutely thrilled to have been given the go ahead to open the Everton in the Community Free School.’
‘The Free School will provide a high quality and inspirational educational experience for the young people of Liverpool for whom school is not always the best place for them to learn. Everton in the Community will work in partnership with the local authority and local secondary schools to create learning and development opportunities for those young people who are most at risk of exclusion.’
‘With the full support of the Local Education Authority, we wish to engage students with a new innovative approach to educational provision backed by the brand and values of Everton Football Club, which are already firmly embedded within our community scheme.’
Everton manager, David Moyes, added: ‘This will represent a fantastic opportunity for Everton Football Club and its charitable arm, Everton in the Community, to further extend its reach into a wide variety of communities across the Merseyside region. It will, unquestionably, provide a real chance for some less-privileged, less-fortunate children to embrace – and benefit from – a high-quality education.’
Free Schools are being introduced by the Government with the aim of raising the standards of education by encouraging a range of new and diverse providers to play a much greater role in the delivery of learning.
