A school run by parents and teachers which would be independent of state control could be accepting pupils in Sussex next year.
The Discovery New School has been named as one of 16 possible free schools to open in 2011.
The school, which would be set up in the Crawley area, has reached the third stage of the selection process.
Montessori teacher and mother-of-three Lindsey Snowdon and her husband, software company director Andrew, will now have to prepare a business plan about the school’s educational aims and objectives.
The bid will then have to be approved by the secretary of state for education, Michael Gove.
If successful they will then be given Government funding and permission to start hiring teachers and prepare to open in the next school year.
The school plans to be a Montessori primary school.
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