PLANS for a new 1,800 place school have been put into action for central or East Manchester as ever-growing numbers of primary students head to secondary schools.

According to government rules, all new schools must be free schools, state funded and set up by parents, existing schools, businesses and other organisations.

Plans for Britain’s largest primary school are also in place, with Beaver Road Primary in Didsbury possibly doubling in size and being able to take on 1,050 students in total.

Beaver Road Primary has already seen almost four times the amount of students they can take apply for reception in recent years.

In the next two years, each year group across all primary schools is set to grow by 200 pupils and the number of high school students is expected to rise even more.

As of January 2015, Manchester had 71,000 school children, an increase of 3,000 in just one year.

Last year also saw more than 12,250 in-year applications, with nearly 4,000 of those being new arrivals to the city.

Council bosses are eager to get the ball rolling on plans for a new free school as soon as possible.

Town hall chiefs hope that by next summer they will have a sponsor in place for the school to open in September 2018.

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