A HEADTEACHER has vowed a bilingual free school will be open to the whole community and not set apart from it.

Wendy King, head of the Bilingual Primary School in Hove, made the promise at its official opening ceremony yesterday.

Built on a site at the bottom of The Droveway next to Hove Park and open since February, opponents to the scheme claimed it would only appeal to some and that there was greater need for a mainstream primary school.

Ms King said: "We can't hide from the fact that there has been some opposition to free schools.

"We don't want to be an exclusive school and set apart from the community. We want to be a part of it."

The Bilingual Primary School currently has 253 children on its role and, from September this year, there will be three new reception classes. These children will be in year six in 2022, which is when the school will have reached its capacity of 630 students.

Children learn English and Spanish side by side, with Spanish-speaking teaching assistants but no restriction for teachers. Only about 20 per cent of students are native Spanish speakers with small contingents of other nationalities including Polish and Japanese children.

Ben Lambert of Lorna Road in Hove has a five-year-old daughter, Ayla, who attends the school. Her mother is Spanish.

Mr Lambert said: "Ayla loves it and really looks forward to going there.

"At that age you want them to be going somewhere where you can see progression.

"Languages are becoming really important and if you can speak English and Spanish you can go almost anywhere in the world."

As a free school it is funded by the Government and has to finance all of its own back-office functions, unlike council-run schools.

Yesterday's official opening was marked with singing and Flamenco dancing from the youngsters as well as speeches.

Councillor Lynda Hyde, mayor of Brighton and Hove, said: "I'm a great supporter of free schools. I only wish I had such an opportunity when I was young."

Ms King added: "This school vision started as a conversation between parents saying, 'Why don't we start a Spanish school?' It's hard to believe it has become what it has."

She also said it was a challenging time for the school and that there was a balance to be struck between "being committed to our vision" and meeting the expectations of Ofsted.