SWINDON is set to welcome two new free schools after gaining financial backing from the Government.

But another bid, for a Great Western Primary Academy, was turned down by the Department For Education yesterday.

Abbey Farm Educate Together Primary School, in the north of the town, and Badbury Park Primary School, to be built near Coate Water, were announced as the two successful bids by the DfE yesterday.

The two free schools - state schools that are not under local council control - which were put forward by the Educate Together Academy Trust and the Blue Kite Academy Trust respectively, are expected to open to pupils next September. The Blue Kite Academy Trust already oversees Ruskin Junior School and Ferndale Primary School.

Gary Evans, the CEO of Blue Kite Trust, said the team were thrilled by the announcement. “There has been a lot of work involved in this application and it was through discussions with Swindon Borough Council that we decided to press ahead and try to open the school under the basic need scheme,” he said.

“There is a need for a school in that area and now it has been recognised which is great.

“Because Swindon is a massively growing town, I think there will be 13 primaries that need to open over the next eight years. We know there is a specific need in this area because we have spoken to parents, leafleted the estate and asked what people need. The reaction since it has been announced has been really positive.

“It is a tremendously exciting time for us and the next step is a lot of meetings with the DfE to start off the pre-opening process and get everything in place.”

Gary said the school plans to hold a question evening after the Easter holidays for parents with a date yet to be fixed.

But, despite the good news for the town, the announcement was tinged with disappointment for many as the Great Western Primary Academy bid was turned down. The bid was led by New College principal Graham Taylor.

Swindon Borough Council leader David Renard said: “We are delighted to get two schools but we believe we still have some capacity issues to address in North Swindon and we will have to sit down and see how the numbers match up. The council has a statutory responsibility to ensure there is enough school places for young people who need them. It can be very difficult these days because new estates mean new families and there is a high demand for places.

“We haven’t had feedback about why Great Western Academy was turned down so we don’t fully understand why two were a success and one wasn’t. We would like to understand for any future bids that go in by providers to ensure they are a success.

“I suspect that the New College bid probably had something to do with the fact that while they have a great deal of experience of dealing with young people from 14, they do not have much or any in primary schools.”

A spokesman for the Great Western Primary Academy bid team said: “We were disappointed to learn from the Department for Education (DfE) that our application to open Great Western Primary Academy was unsuccessful at this time. We will consider the feedback which will be provided in more detail in the next few weeks and will continue to work with the Local Authority to consider our next steps.

“We hope to reapply in the near future as there will still be a shortage of primary and nursery school places in the Tadpole Farm area. In the meantime, the construction of the Great Western Academy secondary is making good progress and is currently on schedule for July 2018 completion.”

He added: “The key to the future success of Swindon is our young people and we need to make sure they get the best opportunities they can and it is about the schools, the Academy Trust’s, the Regional Schools Commissioner and Ofsted all working together hand in hand to try and make sure that happens.”

North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson said: “The Great Western Academy and the Abbey Farm proposals were very close so it could have been that there was not the demand for both but we definitely needed an additional primary school.”

Free schools are state schools that are not under local council control but have freedom over areas including staff pay and the curriculum.

In total, 124 have opened since 2015, with 373 more, including those announced yesterday, due to open.

The Government has pledged to open 500 new free schools by September 2020.

The Department for Education said it would not be releasing any information regarding why certain bids were successful and others were not.

Nationally, more than 130 free schools will be created in the next two years, creating around 69,000 places for pupils – the largest number during this Parliament.