A Bradford charity has announced plans to open a new free school in Bradford.

Charity QED, founded in 1990 to improve the educational, social and economic position of disadvantaged ethnic minorities in the UK, has been working with parents and community leaders over the last eight months to prepare its bid to open Quest Primary School.

QED founder Dr Mohammed Ali said: “The idea that where you are born impacts on the quality of education your children receive is a social inequality Bradford needs to address.

“Primary schools are critically important for instilling a good grounding and many educational leaders we’ve spoken to believe there is not only a need to relieve the pressure on primary school places, but to raise the educational performance of children to meet at least the national average for the country.”

If the bid is successful, Quest Primary School will open in September 2014 and will initially accommodate 60 boys and girls with plans to cater for 420 children by 2020.

The charity is looking to open the school in one of the inner-city wards of Bradford, within a three or four-mile radius of the city centre.

Dr Ali said: “At QED, we were approached by parents in February 2011 with a request to consider opening a school to raise the educational achievement of children, particularly in the inner city.

“As a charity, QED has been working in the community since 1990 – education is at the heart of our mission – and so we felt compelled to take on this challenge.

“A start was made back in April 2011 at grass root levels on gauging support from the local community.

“Since then, the trust and support of parents and members of the local community to make the school a reality has been incredible.”

The charity said it already had the support of hundreds of parents and community members to open the school, which would be free and open to all children.

It is due to broadly follow the national curriculum but with a focus on English and maths to cater to the needs of Bradford children.

Dr Ali said: “Our aims are quite simple. We want to improve the educational performance of children in the deprived communities.

“Despite the best efforts of the education providers, too many schools are still not reaching the standards of performance that would be considered acceptable.

“We want to add value to what is already happening in the city and contribute to a future workforce that will meet the challenges of the new century. We want to support parental aspirations for their children.”

For more information on the school, visit questprimaryschool.

org.

e-mail: james.rush@telegraphandargus.co.uk Twitter: @jamesrushTandA