Under the Education and Inspections Act 2006 a local authority must hold a competition where it identifies a need for a brand new school. In early 2008 Gloucestershire County Council completed a period of informal consultation with local residents and stakeholders. This was carried out in order to find out what people thought about a new school and to raise awareness so that parent/community groups could participate in a new school competition and put forward proposals for a new school.

As a result of the positive outcomes of the informal engagement, a formal consultation was undertaken between September and November 2008. The report following the consultation was published on the Gloucestershire County Council Website and a decision was made that a new school was required.

In April 2009 Gloucestershire County Council invited interested parties to bid to run the new primary school planned for the Coopers Edge development. The deadline for proposals to be submitted was the 28th August 2009. The Coopers Edge School Parent Community Group in partnership with The Robinswood Trust submitted a proposal to run the school. To download and view the proposal please click here;

Following the submission of the bid there was a six week period of public consultation. This included an open meeting and the opportunity for people to submit feedback and questions about the proposals to Gloucestershire County Council. The local authority also interviewed the proposing groups about all aspects of their bids. Following the end of the public consultation period the local authority assessed the proposals and reviewed the feedback.

In December 2009 the local authority selected The Coopers Edge School Parent Community Group and The Robinswood Trust to be the providers of the new primary school.

News Archive

We have kept a list of articles and interviews that have tracked our progress so far. Although not exhaustive, this list helps to provide a useful background to our experiences.

06/05/2010 - Help shape the future of new school in Cooper's Edge, The Citizen - http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/Help-shape-future-new-school-Cooper-s-Edge/article-2124775-detail/article.html

06/05/2010 - Gloucestershire mum builds a school, Heart FM - http://www.heart.co.uk/gloucestershire/local/news/gloucestershire-mum-builds-school/

05/05/2010 – Coming soon: the school that mum built, The Times - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article7116042.ece

25/03/2010 - Gloucester businesses to create Coopers Edge school, The Citizen - http://beta.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/gloucestershireheadlines/Gloucester-businesses-create-Coopers-Edge-school/article-1940436-detail/article.html

05/01/2010 - Parent group set to run Gloucester school, The Citizen - http://beta.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/Parent-group-set-run-Gloucester-school/article-1673709-detail/article.html

10/12/2009 - Parents backed in bid to run Gloucester school, The Citizen - http://beta.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/Parents-backed-bid-run-Gloucester-school/article-1591185-detail/article.html

01/10/2009 - Bidders seek to run Gloucester school, The Citizen - http://beta.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/Bidders-seek-run-Gloucester-school/article-1381448-detail/article.html

27/07/2009 - Parents' bid to run Gloucester school, The Citizen - http://beta.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/Parents-bid-run-new-school/article-1196197-detail/article.html

22/04/2009 - New school bids welcomed, The Citizen - http://beta.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/New-school-bids-welcomed/article-920457-detail/article.html

08/10/2008 - Parents to get chance to run their own school, The Citizen - http://beta.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/Parents-chance-run-school/article-381779-detail/article.html

03/10/2008 - Consultation over new Gloucester school, The Citizen - http://beta.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/1-10pm-Consultation-new-Gloucester-school/article-373395-detail/article.html