CAMPAIGNERS hoping to create County Durham’s first free school are just one step from success, after education chiefs granted them a selection interview.

Leaders of the Durham Free School campaign will be questioned on their proposals by Department for Education officials on Wednesday, May 30, it has been announced.

The interview represents the final stage of the Government’s free school assessment process. The Durham campaign can expect a final decision on its bid this summer.

Bid leaders are delighted at the announcement but keen to stress it does not represent a ‘done deal’. They still need more public support and are urging parents to sign up.

Craig Robinson, a father from Tudhoe and secretary of Durham Free School, said: "People need to know that this is not a done deal.

"Clearly the financial and education plans submitted are strong enough to have got this far but one of the main criteria for approval is comparative numbers. This means that if a proposed school in Surrey had more potential pupils signed up, they could get the funding and the school instead of Durham.

"The more evidence for demand there is the more likely this school will be approved. Anyone with a child currently in year five or six can sign up at the website."

The campaign is pushing for a new secondary school to serve villages south and east of Durham City – communities which have struggled to get children into high-performing Durham Johnston School.

Critics say a free school would rob neighbouring comprehensives of much-needed funding.

However, supporters say it would attract millions of pounds of extra cash, create new jobs and give children in deprived areas the best possible education.

Free schools are directly funded by, and responsible to, the Government.

Durham Free School would open in September 2013, with up to 100 Year Seven pupils only. It would then expand each year up to Year 11 and possibly sixth form level.

The school would have a traditional Christian ethos and its admissions criteria would help those in ‘worst served areas’. Pupils would not be selected on performance grounds. No location for the school has yet been agreed.

The first 24 free schools opened in 2011, with 72 more set to open this September.

For more information or to sign up, visit durhamfreeschool.org