PLANS for Carlisle’s first purpose-built free school have been thrown out by the Government.

David and Jenn Farrell, who run Stone Eden Nursery School at Aglionby, were behind the ambitious plans which would have seen the creation of a 420-place primary school on the nursery site.

The £6m Stone Eden Primary School would have been made of two forms – 60 pupils – in each year, and cater for four to 11-years-old.

It had initial backing from the Department for Education (Dfe), and the Farrells twice travelled to London to give presentations on their proposals.

Despite this, the couple were devastated yesterday to discover that they had failed the application process.

Mr Farrell said: “Disappointment is the only word really: disappointment for the parents of young children in our fantastic city and for the team who worked so hard on this.

“It is not personal disappointment – this was not about Jenn and me.

“More than 200 parents signed up to support this, even though it was basically a field.”

The couple learned their proposal had been a failure via email at 12.01am yesterday.

Education secretary Nicky Morgan announced 22 new free schools in the latest wave, describing the Government programme as offering “a rigorous education in communities which have never before had the opportunity of a good local school”.

In a detailed email, the DfE has outlined why it felt Stone Eden School was not viable.

Its reasons included:

  • That the panel was not convinced the “educational offer would be sufficient to attract parents from across the large catchment area”
  • That there was not a convincing case for the need for a school on that site
  • That the panel was not convinced the school would be financially resilient if pupil numbers were lower than expected.

Mr Farrell disputed all of the comments, but insists he does not feel it was a political decision.

He praised the behind-the-scenes support of Lord Henley and Carlisle MP John Stevenson, adding: “I think the quality of the bid was awesome. I think this was a financial decision – I just don’t think the Government wanted to invest £6m in a purpose-built primary in Carlisle”