A NEW school is to be opened in South Lakeland in a move which will create a number of opportunities for pupils and generate employment.

Queen Elizabeth School at Kirkby Lonsdale has announced that it has been successful in an application to open a new free school - to be located on land to the west of St Mary's Primary.

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The Queen Elizabeth Studio School hopes to start offering professional, technical and vocational courses to students aged 14 to 19 from September next year.

The government-funded school has come through the Department for Education's 'Wave 11' which will see 77 new free schools formed across the country. It will be an option for existing QES students from Year Nine, as well as external prospective students.

QES headteacher Chris Clarke said: "Our intention is to develop over time a greater range of courses according to the needs of our local community and the local economy.

"We anticipate students leaving the Studio School to access university courses, college courses or to take up apprenticeships often with the companies, businesses, industries and establishments with which they have been working throughout their courses.

"For many years now we have tried to provide high-end, quality courses for those of our students whose passion for learning extends beyond the purely academic into technical, creative and practical areas."

Head of school Alison Wilkinson added the new school was borne out of QES's previous engagement with the local community and a desire to maintain that link in the wake of decreasing funding for the main school.

"It's come out of about 15 years worth of work," she explained. "The starting point is a genuine commitment to serve the community, all the children, and preserve the community of the future to ensure children have a route into employment and local businesses have local people coming through. We've always had a commitment to that."

Mrs Wilkinson said she expected the new school to cater for up to 75 students per year group and that it will create a number of jobs with an additional seven teaching staff and "three or four" technical staff required.

"What we're interested in doing is looking at how we can work in partnership with places like Kendal College and share expertise and knowledge," she said.

Graham Wilkinson, principal at Kendal College, said that 'at fist glance' the new free school did not appear to duplicate what the college offered.

"The college can fully understand that those studying at QES main school will be able to do a mix and match combination of post 16 subjects, such as A levels and more creative and practical/professional and technical courses," he said. "This is something the college has specialised in for years and more recently has introduced a suite of 15 A levels that are highly complementary to students’ main programmes.

"It is heartening to note that the school cites apprentices as an alternative career option and earning a wage whilst studying, advanced, higher, technical and professional qualifications. The new degree apprenticeships would fit the bill admirably, when the learners wanted an alternative to a traditional university course."