Church school is set to open

By Sophie Barnes
12/1/2012

Website of the School

PLANS for a Greek Orthodox Free School are getting off the ground – and the first intake of students is set to walk through the doors in September 2013.

Support for the school has come from respected sources including the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Gregorios and the Russell Education Trust.

The St Andrew The Apostle Greek Orthodox School will cater for 11 to 18-year-olds from the Barnet and Enfield areas as well as the wider Greek Orthodox community in north London.

Richard Elms, education adviser for RET, said: “It will serve a large and important community and add to the richness and diversity of the area.”

Under the government’s free school initiative the proposal will be submitted to the Department Of Education by February 17.

Students at the school will be offered the chance to study separate sciences, as well as Greek and Latin – subjects which are usually only available in private education.

Faith schools have faced criticism as they are seen to encourage segregation but Mr Elms disagrees. “I don’t see it (the proposed school) as divisive,” he said.

“It’s been my experience as a parent and a headteacher that a great many parents with no faith choose to send their children to faith schools because they like the ethos. They also tend to be good schools.”

The new school will be spread across three different sites – two in Barnet and one in north Enfield. Specific information on the sites is due to be announced in March.

Two public meetings are taking place – on January 19 at Sacred Heart Primary School, in Oakleigh Park South, Whetstone, at 7.30pm, and on January 21 at the church hall of the Greek Orthodox Church of St Barnabas, in Finsbury Road, Wood Green, at 3pm.

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