The West London Free School has announced it is hoping to open a primary school in 2013 on its site at Cambridge Grove in Hammersmith, offering the same classical liberal education as the secondary school, which opened last autumn.

The school says the plan is to join the two schools together, so any child at the primary will automatically go on to the secondary without having to submit a separate application.

The sibling policy will also apply, so siblings of children at the primary will be eligible for places in Year 7 at the secondary when they're old enough.

The plan is for the primary to open with a Reception class in 2013 and then fill up, year group by year group, until it has a full complement of children in 2020.

Author Toby Young, who led the group of local parents behind the new school, has also told the Evening Standard he foresees a whole chain of similar schools, pointing out that a chain could reap economies of scale, share best practice and pool resources such as playing fields.

"It makes a great deal of sense," he said. "The idea of providing a classical, liberal education regardless of background and ability has proved extremely popular."

January 13, 2012