A FOUNDATION hoping to set up a free school on the Essex/Suffolk border will pitch their plans to the Department for Education later this month.

Parents have teamed up with education charity the Seckford Foundation to try and set up Stoke-by-Nayland free school in classrooms occupied by the doomed Stoke-by-Nayland middle school.

The small school, with just 540 pupils from north Essex and Suffolk, would focus on core academic subjects such as maths and English rather than vocational qualifications.

If the project is selected by the Secretary of State then a public consultation will be held. The school could open in September 2013.

Foundation director Graham Watson said: “We are delighted that by working closely with the parent group we have been able to achieve success at this first stage.

“We hope we can move the project forward to the next part of the process and move a step closer to providing a new Free School for the Stoke by Nayland area.”