PUPILS and staff at Altrincham-based North Cestrian are celebrating after the school was given the go-ahead to open as a free school.

North Cestrian School will open under its new status from September, welcoming 125 new Year 7 students after its bid to become a free school was approved by the Department for Education.

The school will join Altrincham Grammar School for Boys in becoming part of the Hamblin Education Trust, named after North Cestrian founder and former headmaster of AGSB, Walter Hamblin.

But the Dunham Road school will close its sixth form in 2017, as the funding agreement signed by the Department for Education only covers a free school for 11 to 16-year-olds. The axe for its post-16 classes comes just weeks after the school held a sixth form open day.

Lee Bergin, headmaster of North Cestrian Grammar School, said of the free school confirmation decision: “It’s absolutely tremendous news that our application to open a free school has been accepted.

“Demand for school places in Altrincham is extremely high and we look forward to welcoming boys and girls from across the area to North Cestrian from the start of the next school year, increasing choice for parents and pupils.

“I would like to place on record my enormous gratitude to the very large number of people who dedicated a great deal of time and effort to our successful free school application. Their support and assistance has played an invaluable role in helping us get to the position where, after a stringent two-year application process, we can officially say we are a free school.

“It’s a fantastic development for everybody involved with North Cestrian and an extremely exciting new chapter in our proud history.”

But the funding agreement means the current sixth form will only continue until summer 2017, with no further students admitted from September 2016.

Mr Bergin added: “Following guidance from the DfE and the clear abundance of high-quality further education providers in the area, it is presently the case that our sixth form will not take any more new students from September.

“There are many top quality sixth forms and colleges in Trafford, and we are working closely with students, parents and a great number of these fantastic further education providers to ensure our current Year 11s receive the support they need to secure these places.

“Of course, our current sixth form students will continue to receive our dedicated support as they study for their A-levels. We very much look forward to helping these students secure places at their chosen universities.

“Moving forward, we are eagerly anticipating working with our colleagues in the Hamblin Education Trust to continue to provide an excellent standard of education for local 11-16 year olds."