Sikh school to open in Coventry in September 2014

Coventry, United Kingdom (February 27, 2014): It is learnt that a new Sikh school due to open in Coventry in September is to make a temporary home in a former special school.

According to Coventry Telegraph: [t]he Seva School Coventry will, for its first year, be based at the former Dartmouth School in Tiverton Road, WYKEN, Coventry. After that, it will move to a permanent home on a site yet to be announced.

A Coventry City Council spokesman said: “The council was requested to assist the Seva Free school to identify premises that could be made available for a year from September 2014 to enable the school to start.”

The former Dartmouth School premises were identified. and the Education Funding Agency (EFA) who is running this program for the government, and the Seva Trust (the intended operators), have agreed that the school is capable of meeting the temporary requirements. The council owns the school and is discussing terms with the EFA for its use.

The former Dartmouth School already has planning permission for school use. The council will make any letting, subject to a traffic management plan to reduce the traffic impacts on local residents. A statement on the Seva School website says the building will be refurbished, and fitted out, with high quality technology. It also says there will be a bus service for pupils from other parts of the city. The Seva School will be a free school funded directly by the government, and independent from Coventry City Council. The school will take both primary, and secondary, aged pupils, and like all free schools will not charge fees.

In September the school will take 100 pupils aged four in reception, five in year one, six in year two, and 150 pupils aged 11 in year seven. Trustees behind the school say it is open to all faiths. If demand for places outstrips supply, 50 per cent of places will be allocated to Sikh children, and the rest to children of other faiths, or no faith. The Seva School is one of two religious free schools opening in September. The other is the Muslim Coventry Leadership Academy for Girls which will have a temporary home in a former social club in Lockhurst Lane. Dartmouth School was a special school for secondary aged boys with behavior problems. The school closed in 2006, and a pupil referral unit, for children expelled from school, opened in the building. The following year the pupil referral unit moved to Willenhall leaving the building empty.