Funding agreed for Brighton and Hove Bilingual Primary School

Funding has been agreed for the Bilingual Primary School, the first free school in Brighton and Hove.

The funding agreement with Education Secretary Michael Gove means that the school can now confirm the conditional offer of places made to the first intake of children.

Carolina Gopal, the school’s head teacher, said: “This is a momentous occasion and a giant leap forward for language learning in the UK ¡Es maravilloso!”

Marina Gutierrez, who chairs the Bilingual Primary School Project Trust, said: “We are delighted that we have now entered into our funding agreement with the Secretary of State.

“I would like to thank everyone for their patience, support and encouragement over the past year. It has been well worth it.”

School places have been allocated across Brighton and Hove and those with the offer of a conditional place will now be made a formal unconditional offer.

The Bilingual Primary School will be the first fully bilingual state-funded primary school in the country to teach the national curriculum in both English and Spanish.

The school is due to open in September with Reception and Year 1 children, growing year on year until it has a full cohort of 420 is reached of 4 to 11-year-olds.

It will be based at the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy site in Falmer for the first year with the possibility of staying there for a second year.

In the meantime efforts are continuing to secure permanent premises, preferably in Portslade or Hove.