THE HEADTEACHER for a new free school due to open in September in Edmonton has been revealed.

Sarah Oliver will take charge of Woodpecker Hall Primary Academy, which will open this year, with children moving to a dedicated site in Nightingale Road in 2012.

Ms Oliver is currently deputy headteacher at Cuckoo Hall Academy, in Cuckoo Hall Lane, and the children will be taught here for the first year while their new building is constructed.

She said: “I’m delighted to have been appointed as the principal at Woodpecker Hall and I am currently working hard to ensure that everything is in place for our new children in 2011.

“The quality of provision will be in line with the high expectations at Cuckoo Hall Academy and we are ensuring the same outstanding level of teaching and learning.”

Both schools will be managed by Cuckoo Academy Trust, which was formed when Cuckoo Hall gained Academy status after impressing the Government with its exemplary record.

Free schools are schools run by groups of parents, teachers, charities, trusts, religious and voluntary groups.

They will be set up as academies and be funded directly by the Government.

The idea was a key plank of the Conservatives’ manifesto during the build-up to the General Election, but academies have been criticised for being expensive and diverting funding from existing schools.

Woodpecker Hall will start with two part-time nursery classes and two reception classes, but the school will grow naturally with one year group added every year.

It will eventually cater for 420 children aged three to 11, with an additional 60 in its nursery.

The new state-of-the-art building will be built next to Cuckoo Hall on a brownfield site in Nightingale Road, and was approved by Enfield Council and Education Secretary Michael Gove in January.