The Department of Education has approved plans to open Eton College a selective sixth-form centres in three towns including Oldham
The colleges which are also to be based in Dudley and Middlesbrough,will admit 240 students a year, and have 480 students across Year 12 and Year 13 when full.
The colleges,to be called Eton Star colleges will admit pupils on free school meals, from disadvantaged postcodes or those who would be the first in their families to go to university.
Eton College headmaster Simon Henderson said: “We are delighted by this decision. We believe these new colleges have the potential to be transformative both for the young people who attend and for the wider communities they will serve.
Collaborative partnership will be key to this project’s success and we are very grateful for the support we have had already from the respective councils, from the local communities and from our colleagues in other educational settings.”
Star Academies’ chief executive, Sir Hamid Patel, said:
“We are confident that the Eton Star sixth forms will produce extraordinary, transformative outcomes, not only for their students but for the wider communities too.
“With a growing demand for sixth form places in these areas, we aim to enable more young people to benefit from a high-quality academic education and to broaden the opportunities available to them both during and after their sixth form studies.”
