VILLIERS WELCOMES PROGRESS ON GREEK SCHOOL IN N LONDON

VILLIERS WELCOMES VITAL PROGRESS ON APPLICATION FOR A GREEK SCHOOL IN NORTH LONDON

 

Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, has warmly welcomed the progress towards establishing a new Greek Orthodox school in north London.

 The application to set up the St Andrew the Apostle School has the strong support of His Eminence, Archbishop Gregorios. It is being put forward by leading members of the Greek Cypriot Community, including Mary Karaolis, the former head teacher of the Totteridge Academy in Barnet.

 The application has been made to the Conservatives’ free schools programme. This week the project passed an important milestone as Government Ministers decided to give preliminary ‘pre-approval’ to the school for expected inclusion in the third wave of new free schools. The next step is for the Secretary of State for Education to decide whether to enter into a funding agreement with the school. If that stage is passed successfully as well, the school could open its doors as soon as September 2013.

 Theresa Villiers MP said “This is great news. The free schools programme is at the heart of Conservative ideas for radical reform of our education system. Thanks to the efforts of Conservative ministers, we are closer than ever before to the establishment of a Greek School in London.”

 “I have supported the idea of a Greek school in Barnet for many years and I am delighted that the application to create the St Andrew the Apostle Greek Orthodox school has passed such an important milestone this week. I will continue to campaign for this new school to go ahead.”