PLANS for Batley Grammar School to become a ‘free school’ have been met with a deluge of inquiries from prospective parents.
The 400-year-old school wants to break with tradition, scrap its fees and join the state school system this September.
And headteacher Brigid Tullie says the proposals have led to so much interest from new parents that it has had to take on additional reception staff to deal with the deluge of calls and inquiries.
“We have obviously tried to get a feel for the demand and so far 1,600 people have registered an interest on our website, which is four times our current school role of 400.
“Our admissions testing for entry to year seven this September was also four times the usual figures as parents were obviously aware the fees could be scrapped by the time they started.”
The school, which also has a junior and infants school called Priestley House, wants to ditch its charges of up to £2,949 a term and become a free school under new government legislation.
Mrs Tullie and her team have been approved to move onto the advanced stage of the process and are currently completing their business case plan which needs to be with the Department for Education by the end of the month.
It will then feedback to Batley by the end of March.
The school was founded in 1612 by the Rev William Lee and was originally a boys school. It introduced girls into its sixth form in 1988 and became fully co-educational in 1996.
