From the Department for Education

Dear Mr Knights,

Thank you for your email of 17 September about Everton Free School. This alternative provision (AP) school caters for students aged 14 – 19 and is temporarily located in the Liverpool Community College’s Learning Exchange Building.  Although, as you point out, the school only has two dedicated classrooms and an office, the staff and students are free to use the communal areas.  Because of the restricted classroom space currently available it is likely that the school will teach fewer students this year than it had originally planned.  However, the numbers will build over the next two or three years to reach its capacity of 200 once the school has moved to a permanent location. Students in AP schools arrive via referrals from commissioners, such as other schools or the local authority, rather than the mainstream admissions process.  It is highly likely, therefore, that new AP schools will open with very few students with numbers building over time.  Everton Free School is no exception to this. Applications to open a new Free School undergo a thorough financial assessment and the Department has no reason to believe that this school is not viable.

Yours sincerely,  Mike Couzens Free Schools Group