A NEW girls’ secondary school will open in Bradford after an education trust was given the go-ahead by the Department for Education.

Included in the latest round of free school approvals is Bradford Girls Academy, a secondary that will be run by the Feversham Trust.

Also approved by the DfE are a sixth form college run by Bradford-based Dixons Academy Trust and the previously announced New College Bradford, a post-16 school which will be run by the trust behind New College Pontefract.

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However, the locations for the three new schools have yet to be decided - that decision lies with the Government’s Education Funding Agency.

The schools will all be free from Bradford Council control.

The Feversham Trust runs Feversham College in Undercliffe, a Muslim girls school, Feversham First Steps Nursery, and earlier this year took on Queensbury School.

The trust says the new school, which will have no faith designation, will open in September 2018, initially for 120 girls, but this number will grow to 600 as new year groups start.

It said its preferred site for the school would be in the city centre, although that would depend on the EFA finding a suitable site.

A DfE spokesman said the school would meet a rising need for places and “will build on the Trust’s existing successes to deliver a high quality education in a non-faith environment.”

Clare Skelding, for the trust, said: “We are delighted with the approval and look forward to working with stakeholders to raise educational achievement in the city.”

The Dixons Academy chain runs seven schools in Bradford, and this will be its first sixth form school, providing 880 places.

In 2014 Dixons Trinity Academy was the first free school to be judged outstanding by Ofsted.

New College Bradford will also open in 2018 after New College Pontefract was given permission to expand into the city. It will open with 500 students and will grow to its full 1,200 capacity three years after opening.

Bradford Council has previously said that due to increased pressure for space, at least two new secondary schools would be needed in the coming years, with pressure for Year 7 spaces expected to peak in 2019/20.

The Academies Act means local authorities cannot open new schools.

It means any new school in Bradford would have to be an academy or free school.

The DofE has not yet given a time scale for when sites for the three new schools will be chosen.