STATE-FUNDED HINDU SCHOOL IN EVINGTON HAS OPEN DAY

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

State-funded Hindu school in Evington has open day

A new school, set to open in September, is already proving popular.The Krishna-Avanti Primary School in Evington will be only the second state-funded Hindu school in the UK when it opens later this year.

It is one of the coalition Government's new "free" schools – set up by charities, parents or teachers outside local authority control but paid for by the state.

The I-Foundation, an education charity, is behind the new primary school and yesterday an open day was held to allow parents of prospective pupils to look at the school.

A school spokesman said the high attendance yesterday had suggested the school would be popular.

He said: "We had 60 to 70 people coming through in the first 45 minutes alone and about 30 to 40 of them told me they had applied to the school."

Prospective parents were given a tour of the school and also heard from Naina Parmar, the headteacher of the state-funded Krishna-Avanti school in Harrow. Both schools are advised by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

Vishal Brahmbhatt, 30, from Belgrave, has applied for his three-year-old son Pritam to go to the school.

He said: "It's very exciting because it's the first Hindu school where children can stay in touch with their culture."

Jessica Desai, 29, from Humberstone, who visited with 15-month-old daughter, Danisha, said: "I've heard good things about the school in Harrow and I know it's very popular."

The I-Foundation has said its first intake will be 60 reception-age pupils but that it aimed to provide 420 places for children aged four to 11 by 2018.

Half of the new intake will be Hindu and the other half children who live nearest the Spencefield Lane site.

Children will follow the national curriculum but their day will include daily Hindu prayers among other things.