Apply now for bilingual school
Parents are now able to apply for places for their children on one of the first bilingual primary courses in the UK.
Primary school admissions for next September opened at the start of the week (November 1) and this means that parents can now apply for their children to be among the first intake of bilingual pupils, based at Clancarty Road.
It will be the first time that bilingual classes will be taught in H&F and only the second example in the country - the first being Wix Primary School in Battersea.
For the first two years, classes will take place at L'ecole Marie d'Orliac in Fulham but admissions applications will be made through Holy Cross Roman Catholic School. The ground-breaking project is a joint venture between the school's trustee, the Diocese of Westminster, H&F Council and the French school. Pupils aged four to 11 from both Holy Cross and L'ecole Marie d'Orliac will be taught together by teachers from each of the schools, using an agreed common curriculum.
Applications for the new bilingual places are open to everyone, regardless of their religious background. All other places at Holy Cross will still be allocated using its current criteria which give preference to Catholic families.
H&F cabinet member Sarah Gore said: "We as a borough want to be in the vanguard in terms of delivery of education. This first bilingual class marks an important stage for Hammersmith & Fulham. We not only need to provide more places for our growing primary school population but also want to offer parents a meaningful choice. We anticipate that this option will prove popular with many parents, and we look forward to many more families choosing borough schools as a result of the greater choice."
Bishop George Stack, chairman of the Diocesan Education Commission, said: "This proposal allows the Catholic community to make an innovative contribution to education in the borough. It will build on the values of care and excellence which lie at the heart of Holy Cross School's Catholic ethos."
A high number of families in H&F choose private education or schools outside the borough, rather than local state schools. This is a trend H&F Council is already reversing by offering local families new and innovative state school choices.
