Bilingual school to be capital's 'Little France'

French Embassy: in talks about setting up bilingual school

England's first bilingual comprehensive school could be created in London.

Today, Hammersmith and Fulham council said it was in talks with the French Embassy to redevelop an unpopular state school into an institution that offers both English and French national curricula.

The school would be free to the children of British citizens while French expatriate pupils would pay fees.

It would be a partnership between Hurlingham and Chelsea comprehensive in Fulham and the nearby Lycée Français private school, owned by the French government.

Land currently occupied by the state school would be leased for an extension of the Lycée, which is popular with French diplomats and business people.

The area is home to London's largest French community, including many couples with small children.

The school would be able to offer free bilingual education to the 11- to 16-year-old children of local council taxpayers.

The scheme would have a good chance of boosting Hurlingham and Chelsea's popularity, which has suffered in recent years as only one in four pupils achieves five Cs at GCSE, including English and maths.

Hammersmith and Fulham council leader Stephen Greenhalgh said: "There is tremendous political will to partner with the French government to deliver a groundbreaking educational initiative."

The plans to introduce bilingual education in the Conservative-controlled borough come amid wider school reorganisation plans, which have sparked a huge row.

The authority plans to sell off Peterborough Primary School in Fulham in the wake of an election promise last year to bring down council tax.

The council insisted the money will be used to fund the relocation of Queensmill, a special primary school for autistic children.

But a Labour MP claims the authority's real motive for the plan is to make millions from selling the site currently occupied by Peterborough primary.

Andrew Slaughter, MP for Ealing, Acton and Shepherd's Bush, said the sale was part of a council policy to sell off assets to bring down council tax.

"There is an 'everything must go' sale in Hammersmith and Fulham at the moment," he said. "The only way they can get council tax down is to sell off as many assets as they can to pay off debt charges."

A spokeswoman for Hammersmith and Fulham council insisted the plans were still at a very early stage, and refused to put a figure on how much the authority hoped to raise by selling Peterborough primary's land on the open market.

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